Number Two
by Luke Danger
Summary: Winner of AmericanGecko's Minor Character Story contest. Set one month before Deconstructive Legacy, Will Du works to settle questions of his being Global Justice's number one agent in the aftermath of his infamously poor showing with Team Possible.
1. Chapter 1: Agent

_Disclaimer: I don't have any dibs on anything but original characters and the story itself. Kim Possible and all characters of it belong to Disney. They didn't say squat about chicken, though…_

**Prelude: **

**2500 (Human) Common Era**

**The Archive**

Dorothy Lipski blinked as she staggered back as she stopped using the tome, ejecting herself from Kim Possible's preserved memories. A beating headache was wearing down on her as the Archivist was smiling thinly at her in the cyan lit room. "You feel the kickback of consistent use, don't you?"

"Yeah," she said with a low mutter as she put a hand on her head, "It hurts, but it's not too bad."

"Good," he answered as he gestured to a small bench that wasn't there before, "Rest a moment and think about what you've seen. Give yourself time to recover."

She nodded and walked to a convenient bench nearby. Some of the facts she had learned were troubling, such as seeing the actual _casualness_ and even hubris Kim and Ron had acted with five centuries ago towards their 'hobby'. She frowned as she sat down. Something did not add up. Kim and Ron were only two people. Who actually handled day-to-day superpowered incidents across the globe that did not call for those two? _Global Justice,_ she recalled quickly, frowning even deeper as she realized few of the actual records of the soldiers who stood on the line were looked at as more than trivia. Even she did that common mistake. Although Kim's memories included frequent interaction with them, they did not tell her the actual daily lives of them. The daily lives of the minor players, the contemporaries who were not the major figures. The ones who would be seen as red shirts by movie audiences but were much more even as they were batted aside in the heat of combat by higher caliber combatants. She looked up at the Archivist as he was checking the various books in the vaults. "Archivist, do you have anything on some of the everyday soldiers Kim met? Like GJ agents, cops, Resistance guerillas, any of them. Heck, even their families would do."

The Archivist smiled with his sharp teeth, "History's truest accounts. The memories of major figures are one thing, but the smaller fish who actually make up the school are an even better idea of how things were, of how events happened. Their stories are least touched by cultural engineers and so are often forgotten by those who are not interested in that particular area." He walked towards a shelf and pulled out a smaller _Liber Memoriarum_ from the shelf. "Let us take a look at a common soldier of the era then. You have seen him in Kim's memories," he placed the book on the pedestal and opened it, "Agent Will Du of Global Justice. We will focus on his first interaction with _Specters_. You know them well of course, your cousin is one."

She nodded despite being freaked that he knew that detail of her life, "Elite human soldiers who specialize in busting superpowered individuals, and ended up being a generalized elite commando. One man or woman armies who are rated to take on lorwardian warriors four-to-one in favor of the lorwardians, albeit with difficulty. The idea was that they would duplicate the effectiveness of Team Possible and be heroes for the common soldier. Not quite the same caliber, but they're close enough to class the same threat wise."

"Indeed. Will Du was not to their class, but he was no less a hero than these elite soldiers. The events that I will focus your search on is when he realizes this, in the early June of 2007, Terran Common Era.

She nodded and stepped back up to the pedestal, once again putting herself into memories as she activated the tome.

XXXX

XXXX

_"Global Justice was founded in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War to serve as a unified defense against superpowered incursion, in light of several at the time unheard of incidents. It was meant to be a secret shield which answered to the United Nations and operated across borders from underground headquarters with the rare surface base. Their duties were to seek out paranormal activity, particularly that retaining to supers, and either put a stop to it or prevent it from running unchecked. And what happened? They were proven to be less effective than they were thought to be by a pubescent cheerleader and her slacker boyfriend against the Scottish mercenary Duff Killigan. Realization that they were underequipped to engage villains of that caliber resulted in what they referred to as the Specter program, which was designed to emulate Kim Possible's effective tactics against villains, but a military spin. These operatives were meant to be the ideal of a Global Justice field operative: capable of handling any villain through a combination of tactics and technology. Specters were trained by a variety of elite Special Forces, and their earliest deployments were in late 2006, though most of these files are still classified. The first publically known deployment of a Specter operative was in Operation Waterloo, an intervention by Global Justice in the miniature European nation Rodegan mere weeks after the passing of the Global Defense Initiative Act which transformed Global Justice's role. The mold left behind by these agents are a strong and sturdy check on the potential destructive powers of the superpowered and magical members of humanity, but few are able to cast their mettle in that mold."_

- Excerpt from _"The History of Global Justice"_ by Armand Blade, published in 2043

XXXX

**Chapter 1: Agent**

**June 6th, 2007 Common Era**

**5:19 PM**

**Global Justice Headquarters**

**Somewhere under the Tri-City Area**

"Play it again, Com."

"Yes, Doctor Director," answered the technician as he hit the play button. Gemini appeared on the screen as the recording of his most recent threat to freedom was expressed. Doctor Director scowled at the sight as her fraternal evil twin made such uncouth demands.

"_Rodegan's bold move towards democracy was an amusing thing to watch, but it forgets the iron hand of its former kings, a lesson that needs to be retaught should this…"_ Gemini's lips pursed as he paused for effect, _"… unwise course of action continue. Should the elections proceed as has been planned, misfortune will befall your puny kingdom. Your precious 'candidates' weak-link Wally and Adam Campan will disappear and shall never be seen again. I hope that you see reason and come around, but do not expect unwise action to be permitted without consequence."_ The message ended.

Sighing, Doctor Director nodded to the technician who pulled up a map of the region on the northern side of the Alps. She noted that while there was military presence there, it was extremely small and would be insufficient to ward off any attacks by WEE, if the attack was supported by their regular mercenary contracts or networks of low-life thugs. _No wonder they stayed out of both of the World Wars and the Cold War; they'd be swept away as quickly as a town would,_ she mused as she noted that the forces lined up in Rodegan's army were more like an American militia made up of people who just read books on how to use their weapons rather than a group of veterans or experienced personnel. She frowned as she considered her options. Convincing any of the nearby nations to send help would not work, most overlooked the miniature and neutral nation as an old feudal relic and would not even bother sending a single advisor over as they had their own issues in rebuilding from the alien attack and maintaining internal order. A relief effort would not help as their small size allowed them to avoid damage during the alien attack, much to the chagrin of nearby nations. That left her one option: Global Justice agents had to go in, put their boots on the ground, and intervene if they were going to keep the peace. _It is part of our new responsibilities,_ she finally decided, wishing Global Justice had more time to arm itself for the new role.

"Get me Agent Du," she ordered as she concluded who was available and suited for the mission. "I want him and a team ready to be deployed in Rodegan in order to protect them from this scheme."

"Yes ma'am!" the technician said as he set to work. She looked over the list of available agents and nodded. The agents she chose would be sufficient for the task and would be capable of helping Rodegan improve its ability to defend itself while they were present. _Gemini wants to dam a flow of freedom, let's see how he handles liberty's wrath,_ she thought in faint amusement as Will Du walked up to her and saluted.

"Agent Du. At ease." She said as she turned, "I take it you've seen the latest message and reports?"

"Yes ma'am," he answered succinctly and professionally, hands held at his sides as he stood stiff as a board.

"Good, this cuts the briefing time down considerably. Your assignment and that of the agents who will be under your command is to protect Rodegan and its people from the Worldwide Evil Empire and its efforts to see the kidnapping of Rodegan's candidates for a democratic election. We cannot allow the ideals of liberty to be squashed by this renegade man and his mercenaries. You will liaison with the soon to be ex King Wallace, who is returning to his former position as a military officer until he properly retires in order to smooth over the transition. Unfortunately, we do not have a section leader or firebase in the area yet, so you will be in command of the mission and will report to me directly." She eyed the agent directly, "Am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Will Du answered with stiff upper lip.

"Good. The hovercraft taking you there and supporting you during this operation will be awaiting your arrival at 2000 hours."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good luck, Agent Du. Global Justice is counting on you."

"Yes ma'am." With that, he turned and left. She wondered if he would be enough to stop WEE briefly as she considered things. Will Du had not taken being outpaced by Kim Possible very well, but had managed to recover his dignity and trained harder, doing better than before. Still, he was a worry to her as the psychologist reports on him indicated something of a growing inferiority complex. While he had seen action over the last few years, those actions had always been under a local Global Justice officer, not his own independent command. She anticipated potential problems if his reported inferiority complex got in the way.

"Com, can you arrange for Kim Possible to be brought in? She has familiarity with Rodegan since she protected Wally four years ago."

"_Negative, ma'am, she is in the Nepalese region of the Himalaya Mountains right now going after Drakken and Shego."_

"What are _they_ up to? I thought they had stopped being a threat to the free world after the alien invasion." _Hell, they might as well be defending it now..._

"_Scans indicate that it is actually very minor, they have been keeping to the very low end of the threat scale. In analysis, it can be concluded that they are doing things for old times' sake."_

She sighed, grossly irritated by the timing: this was _just_ what she needed. She was told to put Global Justice into a much larger scale of operation, and one of its best assets was not even under her authority. "Try and get a hold of them if you can, I am not letting Gemini gain a victory in Rodegan."

"_Yes ma'am!_"

She frowned, "Could you bring up any strategic resources that Rodegan is in possession of? It makes little sense tactically for Gemini to bother with Rodegan beyond trying to show he can fight a practically nonexistent military defense."

_"Yes ma'am. According to Agent Talleyrand's recent infiltration of assorted militaries, Rodegan is in possession of some artifacts from the days of old. They lie unused, but it is possible they have value; if the stories about them are to be believed. Unreliable verification due to the stories about them dating at about 600 CE."_

"Add that to Agent Du's in-transit briefing, he should keep an eye on this."

XX

**June 7th, 2007**

**The Next Morning**

**Rodegan Castle**

**Rodegan**

Will Du stepped off the transport with his GJA-13 '_Diamond Back_' energy rifle strapped to his back, glancing around from the quaint landing pad out into the charming countryside. _Smallest country in Europe short of the Vatican. Not a bad place at all._ He hoped to see professionalism from the militia like soldiers this country had. He got his answer as one wearing the traditional uniform of Rodegan's nineteenth century days marched up, a more modern firearm slung over his shoulder. "Private Vargas Mitchell, First Musketeers. Agent Du, His Majesty awaits you and your squad in the main room."

_Musketeers?_ Will thought with a frown. The soldier was using a Belgian _FN FAL_ battle rifle, not a centuries ago outdated musket. "A pleasure, private. Men, fall in."

Mitchell lead them inside the palace, leading them through the well maintained stonework (Will could make out a few more modern steel support beams in some places), to which some of the agents whistled. As they entered the main hall, Will saw the soon-to-be-ex King Wallace discussing matters with his son, Wally.

"Look, father, I know you're concerned about these 'WEE' rabble, but we've worked too hard for this. Rodegan is one of the best off countries after those aliens. Please, let this continue. Let the elections happen and Rodegan push itself back to some of its old glory!" Wally pleaded.

"It shall continue my son, but I cannot in good faith expose our people to preventable violence. The elections will happen, but a short delay to reinforce our defenses against WEE to prevent them from succeeding in their mad scheme is not an unwise course of action."

"Ahem; your highness?" Will Du said to gain their attention, "Agent Will Du of Global Justice. My squad is here to support you against the Worldwide Evil Empire."

"Ah, I'm glad to know that we have help. I shall be honest, I was expecting Kim Possible's aid, but in these times any honest aid is welcomed." Wallace said, not acknowledging a breach of etiquette that Will realized too late, though Wally turned is nose. _This is why I hate royalty; always want their bows. Least their to-be-ex King is reasonable about it._ "I take it you are to act as a support squad during the events?"

"If that is how you think we can protect your people and the candidates best, then yes. We are here strictly to support your defense efforts and ensure nothing ill-advised happens as well as offer some combat courses in fighting WEE agents." Will explained simply and straightforwardly. "Our squad is half made up of indoor combat specialists, half of more general combatants."

"Ah, good. Our soldiers are capable, but we lack proper experience as we have not seen a war in over a century. Wally, would you show these soldiers to the barracks room they'll be in?"

Wally gave his father an exasperated look, as if such was beneath him before sighing, "Fine, fine. Right this way, Agent Do."

"It's Du, not Do…" Will muttered darkly under his breath, much to the amusement of Agent Blake behind him.

XX

**One Hour Later**

**Rodegan War Room**

"Permission to speak freely?" Will asked.

"Granted of course, agent." Wallace answered warmly as they looked over the blueprints of the castle on the opposite end of the table, the blueprints spread across.

"Why are your soldiers called musketeers? It sounds old-fashioned and outdated, yet they use modern weapons."

"A ceremonial leftover. It is, what is the appropriate word to use..." he moved his hand as he tried to find the right word, "tradition. Our nation was once larger, Agent Du, but it steadily was hacked away as time went on until the age of Napoleon, to which it remained this way. At the time, our musketeer corps was our mainline force."

"Napoleon?" Will asked, surprised. The briefing and database never said anything about Napoleon even setting foot in Rodegan.

"He came after Rodegan seeking the royal heirloom, but it was sealed away and he never found it after a rather difficult siege, though he did briefly displace our monarch. The Congress of Vienna fixed that, as you probably surmised. Since that age, we have remained as unnoticed as possible, we are not suitable for modern warfare and the heirloom's aid is insufficient in this day and age. The fact that we avoided becoming involved in the First World War may be the only reason this country still exists and is not an overgrown crater."

"Heirloom's aid? As in an ancient artifact?" Will asked. He had never put much stock into magic, but after seeing the data feeds of the events during the alien attack, he had few doubts left of magic of some sorts existing if the _geek_ that had somehow been able to date Kim _fricken_ Possible could use powers to such a scale as he did during the alien attack.

Wallace frowned, "Correct, the heirloom is said to give the King of Rodegan the wisdom needed and offer his men valiancy in battle against foes beyond mortal means. It was given to us after our first King was dethroned and his more temperate son to help maintain a sense of justice within the Kingdom. The former I can attest to, but the latter I have extreme doubts about."

Will nodded slowly, not wholly believing the story but willing to give it a chance and wondered aloud, "Your nation suffered little damage from the alien attack. Do you have a theory as to why?"

"We are too small, most likely. We were just missed." Wallace answered, shaking his head, "Even if we are better off in that sense, we are still hardly strong enough to help outside of our own borders. Regardless, we must plan the defense against WEE's incoming efforts."

Will nodded as they returned to the main topic, "This is unlikely to break out into a proper military engagement due to WEE's mode of operation favoring stealth in acknowledgement of their inferior frontline capabilities due to reliance on hired guns for numbers in that regard. They will likely target your son, Wally, and Adam Campan in an effort to destroy the democratic elections and force Rodegan to remain a monarchy though subversion and shadow attacks. We will not allow this travesty against liberty to occur."

Wallace's face hardened into a scowl, "You are not insinuating that I or _most _of my ancestors are tyrants, are you?"

Will pursed his lips as he realized what he said, "Oh. Erm... Sorry, your majesty," he wracked his brains to find a way to save his slip up, "I... uh, I was referring to the fact that the Worldwide Evil Empire is attempting to force you to remain in a direction that Rodegan has chosen to leave."

Wallace's mouth curved into an amused yet steep slope, "I have seen better saves than that, but given you're a soldier, that was quite proficient."

"Uh, thank you. Sir." Will awkwardly answered. "Could we, uh... could we get back to discussing the mission?"

"Certainly," Wallace said as he pointed to what looked like a back door on the map, "This sally port was to be used for flanking maneuvers to slip around and knock out siege engines. It leads down a difficult mountain path that's ill suited for heavy armor." He paused; "As in knights on horseback. It was used effectively several times, but in daylight it's impossible to use without being spotted."

Will nodded, "I'll station Agent Astrid there. She has familiarity with back trails."

"She's the Norwegian, correct?"

"Yes sir, skilled in using the GJA-14 _Katana_. She can hold the path alone until we can get help to her. She is probably the most physical of my assigned squad, so if she can hold the path we should be able to keep alert everywhere else."

Wallace nodded, "Yes, she should be able to keep the path checked alone, but I would raise a concern about snipers. There's little cover on the path, as I've said."

"WEE's snipers are horrid, sir." Will answered with a suppressed snort, "They are typically inaccurate and agents have been able to move across open fields to get into range to take them out without being hit. A typical WEE sniper's effective range is barely five hundred meters, and our main rifles have an average range of about three hundred meters but can edge up to four hundred, though accuracy is extremely variable at that range."

Wallace frowned, but nodded. "I suppose then that we can't do any further overt preparations in regards to the rest of your men. If they do, WEE will know that we are aware and take measures to counter. It would be best that the rest of your agents hang on a rapid response role with maybe one or two others walking around as extra patrol help."

Will nodded, "That should make it just look like general reinforcement, but I do not believe that even WEE will be ignorant to why we are here, sir."

"I do not anticipate being able to mask such either, but the less obvious it is the better. Given Gemini made his threat public he can hardly expect you to be ignorant of it, Agent Du. He will be anticipating some sort of Global Justice response."

Will nodded, "Very well. We will make the preparations suggested. What does Rodegan have for mechanized support in the event we have to begin a vehicular engagement during combat actions?"

"A single airliner jet and a few old jeeps bought when reduced to surplus status in the aftermath of the Second World War. We have been discussing the purchase of an M60 _Patton_ tank from Austria, though mostly as a support vehicle."

Will nodded. _So we really just have Corporal Thomson's GJV-38 hover jet we came on for any support. That should not be a problem._ "Very well. You know where both candidates will be at night?"

"Oh, both sleep here as they're going to be up early tomorrow to make ready for the election."

Will smiled, "Excellent, that will make protecting them much easier. WEE knows that random terrorization will not succeed, they will have to go for the source. I'll speak to you again later, sir, once assignments have been set for my men."

"Very well, Agent Du."

XX

**WEE Headquarters**

**Somewhere under the Atlantic Ocean**

Gemini frowned as he observed the video of the GJ hovercraft landing in Rodegan. He glanced to the left at the image of the associate who was spearheading the effort, who was within one of his helicopters at the listening post the operation was to be launched from. "I hope that you have a contingency, Ghost," he said with a frown, "The deployment of _Global Justice-_"

Pepe immediately began barking rapidly and loudly, causing Gemini to wince upon realization of saying that hated phrase. He was adopting a baby voice as he consoled the dog, "Sorry Pepe... there there, it's alright," he began to scratch the back of Pepe's neck as he continued, "It's okay, it'll be alright. There will be a quarter in the GJ jar..."

_"Ahem,"_ said the associate, a female clad in a ninja-like outfit with a full mask. The outfit meant that only her short black hair kept in a ponytail and her green eyes visible. "_You were saying, Gemini?"_

"Ah, yes," Gemini said as his deep baritone returned, his dog consoled well enough for the moment, "The deployment of enemy agents will be a problem. I take it that you have considered that in your plans."

_"The agents of Global Justice are insignificant,"_ Ghost answered, causing Pepe to begin to yelp again and bark. Gemini consoled him again with a sigh. _"If they pose a problem, they shall be eliminated."_

"Good. Now show some respect around the dog and this mutual alliance will remain fruitful to _both_ of us."

The transmission simply cut in response. Gemini made a mental note never to work with Ghost or her 'Magocracy' masters again. He did not know much, but he knew that they were a threat to his plans. _Still, I will get more out of this then they will. Who needs a weak-link like Wally when you could get the King? Whatever, I get the key component to my next plan._

XX

**11:30 PM Local Time**

**Rodegan Castle**

**Rodegan**

Agent Astrid sighed as she radioed in, "No sir, nothing in sight. Back end is clear, over." She checked her GJA-14 _Katana_ energy shotgun for the nth time that night, checking it for any problems even though she had already wiped it down so clean she could see her own reflection in the darkest midnight. _I hate guard duty, I'd rather be out there taking WEE down and introducing them to the floor with some good old in-your-face, not babysitting some pompous royal pain in the a..._

She frowned, distracted from her thoughts as she heard a rock bouncing and flipped the safety off on the energy shotgun. She stepped outside, raising an eyebrow as she saw a rock bouncing away. "Where are you going?" she quietly muttered to herself as the followed it, looking around and holding her shotgun ready as she checked for the anomaly.

She heard something and whirled around, getting a single shotgun burst off that was absorbed by some rune engraved, shielding orb as a ninja assaulted her with twin wrist mounted blades. Her shotgun was slashed away and before she could react she felt something stab her in the gut and pull out. She grunted, gasping for air as she collapsed like a rag doll and landed on the cobbled trail, trying to hold herself together as she curled on her back into a fetal position, hands trying to keep pressure on her now-open sides. She saw WEE agents heading towards the sally port, and tried to key her radio.

"Ah ah ah," said the ninja, who was standing over her and with two swift slices and dull thuds, she realized what had just been severed from her helmet. Astrid could barely make out the ninja, but she could see that she wore a skintight all black outfit with dark brown straps along her body and torso, for what purpose she couldn't determine. The woman's muscles were thin but taut, indicating use. At that point, Astrid couldn't see any more as she felt paint shooting from her impaled gut as dinner tried to go out a way it wasn't supposed to.

XX

**11:35 PM Local Time**

"Agent Astrid, come in," Will Du said over his stun watch's secondary radio function, "_Agent Astrid_!" He sighed as she still did not answer. "Damn it. Henderson, Blake, get down there and report. Make sure she did not doze off on watch."

"Yes sir!" Henderson said before saluting, taking his GJA-13 off of his back and readying it for combat. As he did so, Will changed channels and reported the incident to the local chief of security, Captain Alenko. Sighing as he signed off, he walked to the side of the barracks and grabbed his energy rifle, checking it and making sure the safety was on and it was set to stun in the event of a mishap. It was the new main equalizer between GJ's agents and villains thanks to its stun setting, a feature shared with its shotgun counterpart. He walked out the barracks door and walked towards where Wally and Mister Campan were sleeping, two different rooms in the same suite of the castle.

"Agent," one of the Rodegan guards outside saluted. Will frowned a moment, thinking he saw something, then shrugged, returning the salute and entering.

What he saw when he entered, however, caught him off guard and he immediately hit his radio and shouted a warning.

XX

"PLEASE!" Wally begged as the female ninja grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, "I'll give you anything! Gold, jewels, ANYTHING! Just don't hurt me!"

"Shut up," the ninja said in a raspy voice as shadow seemed to cling to her, dragging him along casually. Wally struggled, trying to break her grip. Alas for him, his weak body was not enough as he was dragged through the hallway. He looked at her with pleading eyes, his long face trembling, but it did not help him whatsoever. She snarled to a WEE agent, "Keep Global Justice busy."

"Uh... yes." he answered before adding as an afterthought, "Ma'am." With that, he charged in with a WEE shock staff to attack Will Du, who had managed to disable the disguised WEE agent who had impersonated a Rodegan soldier. Wally struggled as Will was slammed into the wall by the WEE agent before he broke free, the ninja pulling him along and just ignoring everything.

_"FREEZE!_" shouted a pair of GJ agents with rifles. He found himself pulled in front and blades at his neck. Wally screamed as he realized that if they opened fire he would be shot apart. "Don't shoot!" he shouted, "I'm too pretty to die!"

The agents did not get a chance to decide as they were ambushed from behind by a pair of WEE thugs, who knocked them in the back of the head. The four began to struggle, hurling punches at each other and brutally trying to rip each other apart. Wally was pulled along by the ninja as a third thug asked, "What about the other guy?"

"Forget him! We have what we came here for! Everyone pull out, we're leaving!"

XX

Will Du groaned as he pushed himself up, not sure where the WEE agents had gone, but he quickly hit his radio, "This is Agent Du to anyone still combat able, enemy forces have captured Wally and are moving to escape! Henderson, come in!"

_"This is Henderson, got a sight on Wally by the back end... FREEZE!"_ What followed was several thuds and shouts and radio static. Will swore under his breath as he grabbed his GJA-13 and ran down the halls, Private Mitchell and another Rodegan musketeer sprinting down only to be hit by one of Gemini's ninjas. Will skidded to a halt and opened fire on the ninja, but the two Rodegan soldiers were knocked out before they could do anything. The ninja turned towards Will and he took three shots, each one missing as the ninja leapt to the side. Letting go of the rifle with his left hand, he aimed his stun watch at the ninja and hit the button with the bottom of his right hand. The stun charge shot forward and hit the ninja, causing him to shout in pain before slapping down a smoke screen and disappearing. _Don't care where he went, find Wally!_

He grabbed his rifle and sprinted down towards the sally port, it all made sense to him now. Why Astrid did not call back: she was taken out. He found Henderson and Blake wrestling with two WEE agents and sprinted past, realizing the ninja who had gotten Wally would be using the agents as a smoke screen and extra interference. He leapt over and saw a third agent turning with his shock staff towards him and firing the clumsy weapon. Will barely had time to get out of the way as the bolt of electric energy sped by, blasting a fancy vase as he responded with a few shots of the GJA-13, which caught the agent and stunned him. As the WEE agent collapsed, he sprinted to the sally port and collided with the door and forced it open with the force of his charge.

He sprinted down the path as he saw the ninja walking by a wounded Astrid, Wally held in her grasp. The ninja turned and scoffed, shoving Wally down the path as she charged him. Will barely had time to react as he fired his stun watch at her, but the wires were caught by some sort of shield. The stun watch useless, Will pulled its wires back in as the ninja leapt at him, swinging punches. He blocked the ninja's first and second hits and responded with a sturdy kick that missed as she leapt over behind him, slashing him across the back with a hidden wrist blade. The cut was not deep thanks to his under armor, but he hit the ground, turning as he tripped her and knocked her down the path.

She leapt back up quickly and hit him in the face, blinding him with color exploding in his eyes as he stumbled back while she was hurled down a smoke bomb. He grabbed his GJA-13 and made sure it was set to stun before shooting into the smoke screen with automatic fire. As he fired the last of its forty shot charge, he sighed and moved up close while reloading, swearing when he saw Astrid's condition. He keyed his radio as he dropped the rifle, "This is Agent Du, a female ninja has escaped with Wally and Agent Astrid is wounded. We need the hovercraft in the air _now_ maintaining a CAP and a medic at the sally port, over!"

_"Copy that, Combat Air Patrol initiated!"_ Corporal Thomson said over the radio, the sound of GJ hovercraft engines roaring as Will checked Astrid's condition with his crash course in first aid telling him there was nothing that he could do for a stab wound to that degree.

"Hang in there, agent," he said, looking for the painkiller as he checked his pockets before smacking his forehead as he realized they stopped issuing it out to agents after they realized it actually dulled effectiveness considerably, making the point of keeping an agent in the fight moot.

He saw a WEE helicopter taking off, Corporal Thomson behind him firing a flare rocket after it, hitting the WEE craft and causing it to glow as it was hit by the specialized compound that made it a beacon in the night. _Now if only he can keep it from escaping,_ Will thought as he watched.

XX

Corporal Thomson pushed the throttle to the limit as he locked onto the WEE hovercraft's IFF. "You're mine," he said as he started a lock onto its rear rotary blade, preparing his craft's EMP burst missile. He only had one of the experimental missiles, so he had to make the shot count. He did not dare use fragmentation missiles for risk of hurting Wally, much as he did not like the young candidate for his attitude. He yawed left and right as a blindside mounted turret on the WEE helicopter opened fire, spitting lasers his direction. One of the lasers hit the hovercraft's armor and shook the hovercraft. He switched to the hovercraft's under mounted laser and took a few shots in return, aiming for the turret but missing as the helicopter pulled out of the way.

He gritted his teeth as he jinked around another burst, his radar lock on beeping an affirmative. The chopper was taking a curve, so he took the shot and the missile sped forward.

XX

Ghost growled, uncomfortable with the helicopter. _Why do these muggles even try to fly with this stuff? There are better methods, like teleportation,_ she thought as she stumbled towards the back and glanced out the side window, "Hey, you have an enemy projectile homing in!"

"I know!" the pilot, Agent Chi, answered, "Hold tight, deploying flares!"

XX

"What the _hell_?" Thomson swore as he saw flares deploy. WEE helicopters did not have flares last time he had checked. "Where did Gemini get those?" he asked rhetorically, outraged as his EMP missile spun towards one and detonated in a blue sphere of electricity. The EMP field hit his own hovercraft and caused him to grunt as his craft began to lose control as the systems were disrupted. The electromagnetic shielding his hovercraft's electronics had was insufficient to stop the EMP burst entirely, but it gave him enough room to prevent a crash. He growled as every systems' warning light and alarm blazed into life at the same time as he fought to maintain control of his hovercraft. "Ca'mon baby, hold together you hear me..." he muttered as he redirected priority to the unaffected systems and connected the secondary engines, turning the craft's VTOL capability on for an emergency landing. He hit the radio on an open frequency. "Look out below, this craft's coming down!" He did not think anyone was below in the trees, but he was not taking the risk as the hovercraft came down to earth as screaming metal, thick branches snapping and going crashing down as he entered the forest.

He grunted as he crashed through the trees and landed roughly, the hovercraft bouncing around as it hit, pinning him against his safety belts as he was thrown around, hitting his head several times. As the craft came to a halt he leaned back, glad that he had a helmet on and sighed. He took time to catch his breath from the experience, thanking whatever was out there that he was alive.

XX

XX

XX

**The Next Morning**

**June 8th, 2007**

**Global Justice Headquarters**

**Somewhere under the Tri-City Area**

Doctor Director sighed. She had already saw the update, but this was the formal video debriefing, "Who did we lose?"

_"Agent Astrid is currently heavily wounded and is recovering in the medical bay. She is stable, but still at risk and probably will be unavailable for months regardless of how well she recovers due to rehabilitation. Everyone else was hurt to some degree but are not combat impaired. Agent Blake was killed by the WEE Agent identified as Zeta, however. We captured several WEE agents, Zeta included."_

Doctor Director nodded, well aware of what had to be done at this point. She'd already made the arrangements. "I take it you are still accepting full responsibility?"

_"Yes ma'am, we should have stationed a stronger guard at the sally port, it was too obvious an entrance."_

She shook her head. Will was a good soldier, but after being shown to be less than he thought he was he had become too much of a downer on himself. _This is definitely that inferiority complex showing itself_. "From your report, you assigned Agent Astrid to cover the flank as was justified. While you could have signaled a partner to be with her, from what she told the medics she was responsible, not you, as she was careless when exposing herself."

"_Ma'am, I was in charge of protecting Wally and now he's been kidnapped. There are mutterings in the town as well that it was arranged by Adam Campan, especially by those who still favor the monarchy. This is a headshot to the mission goal because some are whispering its part of a democracy for underhanded actions, just what Gemini wanted."_

"They should be glad he was not kidnapped as well, given the circumstances. Did you get a radar lock on the escape craft?"

_"Negative, Corporal Thomson was in pursuit but a flare launched by the WEE hovercraft caused his EMP missile to detonate at close range. As Corporal Thomson's craft was directing radar at the time, we lost the link when his onboard scanner went down. By the time it was back online, they had left the airspace."_

She frowned, surprised that Gemini had finally acquired flares for his helicopters. She knew that he had added an automatic laser turret to the rear to keep Global Justice's hovercraft away, but she never thought he would go for something as mundane as flares. _Lesson learned about hubris,_ she decided. "Is Corporal Thomson hurt?"

_"Negative, ma'am, but he is shaken up and his hovercraft will need repairs."_

She nodded, "Very well. Now then, what have you gained from the captured WEE agents?"

_"Agent Epsilon 'accidently' told us about a nearby listening post in the Swiss Alps, not too far away. That was to be a relay point to where an exchange would be made. Myself and what's still capable of the team can move out soon to chase WEE down."_

"You'll be heading out, yes," Doctor Director stated, hoping Will did not take the arriving reinforcement personally. "But stand by until your reinforcement arrives. You will need it and the hovercraft it comes in for the mission ahead."

_"Yes ma'am."_

"Good. Now see to your men, and my condolences on the loss of Agent Blake."

_"Thank you ma'am, Agent Du signing off."_

XX

**Rodegan Castle**

**Rodegan**

Will Du held a hand over his eyes as the hovercraft landed, kicking dust up. The hovercraft's engines whined down and finally shut off and the ramp opened.

Out of the ramp stepped a well-armored soldier, the Kelvar armor gunmetal grey with blue accents and Global Justice's symbol on his left breast, but it was obstructed by his harness. Under his shoulder he was carrying his helmet, a fully sealed one shaped like a gas mask. He was Caucasian with matted and partially disheveled brown hair, but he had an almost drunken look to him, like a sad English school boy with his clean shaven face. He carried two weapons on a back-mounted harness: a GJA-15 _Vindicator_ hybrid energy rifle/shotgun and a GJA-19 _Lovemaker_ energy sniper rifle, the harness they were mounted on looping forward where there were a few small rectangular objects that Will suspected were some form of explosive device. And to complete the set, he had a GJA-09 _Falcon_ energy pistol holstered on his belt. The man stepped forward and nodded, "Agent Du, I'm Lieutenant Atton Williams, a _Specter_ operative. I've been assigned to the mission in response to the WEE super."

Will blinked rapidly, his mouth working quickly as he tried to understand that a _Specter_ was assigned to help him. "You mean Doctor Director was able to _spare_ you from your missions? Sir, with all due respect, why is Kim Possible not being called in? This is her kind of mission."

Atton smiled coyly, "Possible's busy with a certain Pillsbury Blue Boy right now. Doctor Director isn't happy about having to pull me from my mission, but orders are orders."

"Yes, sir. What are the details of your assignment?"

"Technically, nullify the super and ensure no superpowered interference occurs during your mission, but as I outrank you, I can technically be in charge of this mission. The wording of my orders suggested I do so if required." The _Specter_ paused as he said it, as if he was uncertain that it was the polite thing to say.

Will swallowed. He remembered what happened when Kim was called to 'assist' him: she practically took the mission over. Then he remembered on who's watch Wally was kidnapped on. _Maybe... maybe it would be easier to just let him take command._ He paused a moment as he weighed the decisions before answering.

"Understood, Lieutenant. Did Doctor Director give you any specific orders on a course of action?"

"Interrogate the WEE agents that were captured for information, unless that's already been done?"

"We have got the location of a relay point, but that was only a brief pass at interrogation. A further one may yield additional details, sir."

"Good. Let's see if we can get anything else out of him."

**XX**

**End Chapter**

***This is my entry to AmericanGecko's **_**Minor Character**_** story contest and was the winner of it. As you likely noticed, it is a four chapter story focusing on Will Du and the 'fan favorite' Wally to a lesser degree.**

*** This story also ties into Deconstructive Legacy as a prequel short story. Two birds, one stone. So if you have read Deconstructive Legacy then you have a better idea of the setting and the GJA weapons will make more sense. For those who have not read it, GJA weapons are basically Global Justice's line of energy weapons produced for their usage. One ups over regular guns lies in that they can be set to stun and have cross compatible ammunition power packs (except the pistol), but are worse than regular guns in that their ammo is bulkier and the stun setting can be shrugged off much more easily than a lead bullet.**

*** Why did I chose Will Du as my minor character to write about? Frankly, I think that guy needed a little more screen time in the main series. It is kind of sad they never gave the dude a chance to prove **_**why**_** he is GJ's number one agent; our impression of him was basically that he was a useless stuck up based on how easily Killigan pwned him (baring the one shot of the stun watch). I wanted to explore his side of things and get away from all our major favorites and get into a look at smaller fish. Atton is, in a sense, a surrogate for Team Possible as to not include them primarily within the plot, but I actually plan on using the character in **_**Deconstructive Legacy**_**. Since **_**Specters**_** are basically Team Possible members lite, there is also no need to wonder where Kim's skills went later.**

*** The concept of Global Justice having elite agents is one I toyed with for a while and have also given brief appearance to in **_**Deconstructive Legacy**_**. They are basically anti-supers trained in response to potential of them going rogue. They get top of the line gear, the best training GJ can get them, etc. They basically get in there, tackle the super, and go home. As mentioned before, they are basically taking a leaf out of Kim's book in a hope to duplicate that success rate in key missions while the rank and file hold down the fort in less important regions. Not that GJ can hold a match to her, let alone a candle...**

*** A note: All the reviews prior to the one by Reader101w on 5/20/11 are of the original writing of Number Two.**


	2. Chapter 2: Ghost

_"You know, getting your butt handed to you by Kim Possible is humiliating enough, but getting owned by GJ agents? That's even worse. I know what you're thinking, 'How is losing to trained soldiers worse than losing to a pubescent cheerleader?' Easy. GJ can't hold a candle jack to her."_

- Anonymous ex-WEE henchman who _actually survived_ failing Gemini, speaking to one of his colleagues about losing after he got back to a HenchCo facility. He disappeared within the hour and was never seen again.

**Chapter 2: Ghost**

**10 Minutes Later**

**Rodegan Castle Dungeon**

**Rodegan**

"Charming," Lieutenant Williams said with a smirk as a quiet water drip landed next to him. Will was not sure of what to make of this _Specter_-class operative yet. He had heard the rumors and read the official reports. They were elite soldiers created as part of a program made in the aftermath of the Ron Factor fiasco as Global Justice began to consider the fact that it very well have been natural talents that allowed Kim's success, so GJ began looking for the best and brightest to turn into what they hoped would be analogous to her in not only ability but in _presence_. They were successful in that regard according to what Will heard in rumor while in the mess hall, but they were so rare that most field agents dismissed them as a myth or some sort of psychological attack on WEE. Or at least, they did until agents started reporting being saved by commandos and some scientists mentioning elite operatives wanting a hybridized GJA weapon. But now? He was seeing one of the _Specters_ in the flesh, and realized in that moment how he did not hold a candle to them. It was a humbling thought to realize he was _not_ the best Global Justice truly had.

"Yes sir; relatively old, but still effective." he explained as he brought his attention to the dungeon. It was actually fairly modern despite its pre-medieval origins and seemed to have been cleaned up. _Likely used in lieu of a standard police one as it is already there. Cuts down costs and probably helps minimize breakouts._ He winced as he felt his shoulders shoot pain again, the injuries he had received were minor and mostly superficial, but they still hurt.

They arrived at the cell where the WEE agent Epsilon was held and Henderson nodded, "You going to interrogate him?"

"Yes," Atton said then glancing to Will, "What do we know about this agent?"

"US citizenship and was recruited out of some slum by HenchCo. King Wallace gave us full authority in this area with obvious veto on his part in regards to anything Rodegan does to make him talk."

"Good. What's your take on how to make him talk?"

Will frowned, "I assumed that we would follow standard interrogation protocol."

Atton shook his head, "Nah, that'd take too long. I'll put the screws on him, you play advocate. Good cop, bad cop."

"Define 'screws', sir."

"If he's not talking, I'll put a few threats in and maybe slap him around a bit to make it clear we're not going to play around."

"Sir, with all due respect that's only to be used in a Global Justice base with authorization, I don't think..."

"Don't make me pull rank, Agent Du."

He sighed, "Fine. Agent Henderson, we're ready."

Henderson nodded and opened the door. The WEE agent was a heavily built man, but with his mask removed to reveal red hair and brown eyes he looked almost pitiful. Atton walked in casually as Will followed him in and shut the door behind him. "Agent Epsilon," Will began as he watched the WEE agent sitting on the hard bed, "You are aware that you will be properly extradited to Rodegan and your US citizenship will not help you, correct?"

"Yeah, you mentioned that a few times."

Will nodded, "Fortunately, we can minimize your sentence and see you transferred to a Global Justice operated prison. All you need to do is talk."

"Look buddy, I'm not talking. I took an odd job 'cause I needed the cash... I want my lawyer to." Epsilon said, leaning back in the bed and onto the wall. Will grit his teeth; he was not in the mood to argue about this. Epsilon did not even have an advocate and Rodegan did not have right to an attorney in their laws yet.

Before Will could answer, Atton stepped in and held him by the arm menacingly, letting his other hand drop to his pistol, "Look kid, I'm a _Specter_ operative. Don't make this hard on yourself."

"S... s... _specter?_" Epsilon stuttered, collapsing backwards. "Shit, you gotta be kidding me!"

Will slowly curled his lip, "That's enough, Lieutenant."

Atton shrugged and stepped back as Will walked forward, leaning on the bed. "You know he outranks me, correct?" he could not help but scowl as he realized what Atton had in mind. _We're supposed to do that in a GJ base, not some public prison_. "I do not have the proper authorization to hold him back if he gets tired of you resisting. We will not be breaking the Geneva Convention as you are not protected by it."

"What?" Epsilon asked, his face breaking into horror.

Atton answered, "You are not part of a recognized organization that obeys the Geneva Convention, and while you have a uniform you are more spy than soldier. Spies can be tried and _executed_ under the Geneva Convention."

"Alright, I'll talk!" Epsilon shouted, "Just don't fork me over to those backwater monarchists!"

Will frowned deeper. He did not like this technique at all, but it _worked_. He spoke up. "Then tell us everything you know. We already know about the listening post. What is located there, and what kind of defenses are present?"

Epsilon pushed himself up and sat on the bed, "It's a small outpost, but Gemini recently hired a group of mercenaries to help hold it down, it's the meeting place for an interaction between WEE and some 'Ghost' chick working for some uber-secret dude."

"Ghost?" Will asked, "Female, uses wrist blades?"

"Yes, she goes by the name Ghost. She's some sort of magic ninja. The armored dudes who escorted her in looked like they were from ye olde medieval days, but they can block our shock staff shots for a few hits."

Will remembered the barrier that arose to protect her last night and silently swore to himself. _Shielding. Great, that's just what we needed._ "What other defenses?"

"Several laser turrets on the perimeter, but none inside. The total garrison is probably about twelve; four agents and eight mercenaries. If Ghost is still there, she probably has her escort of about four swordsmen."

Atton snorted at mention of swordsmen before asking, "What are Ghost's powers? Super dexterity, leaping, what?"

Epsilon looked at him. "She's able to cloak herself in shadow and can create these smoke screens so thick you might as well be six feet under. She also has some sort of protection against energy shots. We took a few practice shots at her during a few drills and some sort of bubble blinked up 'round her and absorbed them."

"And WEE's recruitment of ninjas?" Will asked, unable to prevent his voice from cracking as he felt the absurdity of the question.

"None at the base that I know of. Just that Ghost chick."

"Any surprises we should know about?"

"No, it's a standard WEE facility."

Will nodded, "Anything else, Lieutenant?"

"Nope. We can transfer him after this case is over."

The two walked out of the cell, opened and shut by Henderson as Epsilon laid back down into the bed. Will shook his head as they walked back up the stairs, "Lieutenant, I thought _Specter_-class operatives were highly classified."

"They are." Atton smiled with a smirk, "I think he had a little mix up of which specter."

Will frowned, not understanding what he was implying as they walked to the war room. Wallace was there, sighing as he looked over a map of Europe. "Agent Du, Lieutenant Williams?"

Atton nodded, "Your Highness, we have the location of the listening post from the WEE agent we captured."

Wallace nodded, "Thank you, both of you. It means a lot to me. Wally may be abrasive and annoying at times, but he is not a bad boy..."

Will glanced around before saying, "I will be leaving several agents here in the event that Gemini attempts a second kidnapping attempt to get Adam Campan. I believe that Lieutenant Williams will be taking a team with him."

"Negative," Atton said, "I'm only bringing you, Agent Du."

_That_ surprised Will and he practically stuttered the next sentence; "Y... y... you are only taking me on this mission? B... sir, this calls for a half squad effort at least."

Atton smirked, "You're GJ's number one agent, aren't you?"

Will was confused now. How could he be Global Justice's number one agent if this man was living testament that the organization had far better agents than him? It was an oxymoron, an impossibility. _For fuck's sake, a civilian _cheerleader_ is better than me._ "Uh, yes, I... uh..." he inhaled to give himself a moment to compose himself; "Yes sir."

The _Specter_ smiled, "Good. We'll leave within the hour. Should be able to clean the base pretty easily, it's not a fair fight." He inclined his head towards Wallace, "Highness," and with that he walked out, checking his equipment as he did.

Will shook his head in disbelief as he watched him leave. It irked him how casual he was. _He's one man, and even if I'm covering him there's no way he can take on an entire base single handedly._ He knew it was _possible_ to do so, but often it relied on long periods of time and picking off targets, the entire process like walking on a fine knife held over a lava pool. If the attacking agent was detected and everyone converged on him or her, retreat would be the only option. He was shaken out of his thoughts by Wallace. "Much spunk in that one. It reminds me of Kim Possible when I met her four years ago."

"How so?" Will asked with a frown. He knew she had been to Rodegan before, but he never saw any Global Justice reports on the details. All they knew was Kim averted a minor diplomatic incident by stopping the assassination attempt by the Knights of Rodegan.

"She was extremely skeptical of the threat, but when it came time to confront it she charged headlong into it. She leapt into the path of laser bombardment and fought two heavily armored men almost twice her size that were armed with lethal weapons, all without second thought." He closed his eyes and inhaled, "And did it for a complete stranger to her, for his son."

Will curled his lip. "Yes, she has the habit. But somehow she was able to do this and _still_ finish her school work."

"I am interested in seeing what gives her that fire. The kind of spirit it takes to fight such incredible odds without second thought like it was a..." he paused, mouthing as he tried to place the right word.

"Hobby?" Will offered, recalling an interview between Kim and Tricia Lebowski, a news reporter of the Tri-City area.

"Yes. How can she take on such? I have always wondered that."

Will glanced around uncomfortably as he remembered again that he, the best GJ had and with thousands of dollars worth of training, was overshadowed by an early-pubescent cheerleader, her (then) slacker boyfriend, and a ten year old geek. He never understood how that had happened. "So have I, King Wallace. So have I."

Wallace shook his head as if he was dismissing an old man's reminiscence, "I apologize for dragging this topic up, Agent Du. I am old and looking towards a peaceful retirement, I seem to be remembering the old days." He sighed, and Will left the war room with a polite nod.

XX

**Three Hours Later**

**Airspace near WEE Listening Outpost**

**Swiss Alps**

Will checked the charge on his GJA-13, satisfied to notice that the new modification that was put into it was working. _Extra ten shots for every clip thanks to streamlining the power conversion. That will be useful if the mercenaries draw this out._ He checked his equipment belt, nodding to himself as he felt the four flash bang grenades and two sonic mines that Atton had provided him with. Glancing out the window at the snow storm raged on the mountain side, he sighed. He was wearing thicker equipment and had snow gear on, mostly just a thicker version of his usual uniform with an Eskimo styled hat as well as a pair of goggles to shield his eyes. He was not a fan of winterized combat, but he was a soldier, an agent of Global Justice, he followed orders.

He glanced to the _Specter_-class operative, who was smiling to himself as he pulled his GJA-19 '_Lovemaker_' from the harness and snapped it together, the sniper rifle parts fitting together easily. Will frowned. He was not sure what Atton hoped to accomplish using a sniper rifle in what would be close quarters combat. "Sir?"

Atton smiled, "Yes, Agent?"

"What is our plan of attack? I do not believe a smash and grab strike will be possible with just the two of us."

"Which is why we're not doing a smash and grab." Atton's smiled widened to Joker like length, "We're taking the facility over."

"Ye- _What?_" Will wasn't able to contain his surprised, "Sir, with all due respect, the two of us cannot possibly capture a facility guarded by a dozen hostiles and hold it down. We need a full team to do it."

"And we'll get one to mop up, but we're going to disable the entire base piece by piece, divide and conquer. This is where you come in. You're someone who can handle himself in a fight and also has demolitions training." He paused; "You've got permission to speak freely for this operation, if you want to use it."

"Uh, yes sir." He blinked. These _Specters_ were a different breed of soldier. They were only mildly military in attitude. _By all that's decent,_ he thought to himself in frustration, _I think they're closer to amateurs like Possible than soldiers. But they're extremely good at it. How can that be? Discipline is the key to victory, that's what Drill Sergeant Zim told us over and over..._ He could not understand this conflict of truths, it was beyond him. He could not understand why, with all the training Global Justice had invested into him and every other agent, they were still discarded for looser disciplined operatives. Why would Lieutenant Williams here, an elite _Specter_ operative, not be just as tight lipped and disciplined as himself? He shook his head slowly as the pilot reported they were arriving at the drop zone. _Focus on the mission, you can debate philosophy with yourself later._

_"Have fun down there you two,"_ the French pilot said from the cockpit in accented English, "_I'm not going to stick around just in case those defenses include SAM sites. Bon voyage!"_

Atton smiled as the hovercraft opened its bay doors about six feet above the actual landing zone and sealed his helmet before he jumped down, landing with a crouch. Will gulped before lowering himself and dropping down after him, staggering as he got back up. He glanced around with a frown as the snow storm began to subside, improving visibility. Will glanced at Atton, "Sir?"

"Stay low, we need a vantage point," he answered as he looked towards the listening outpost through his sniper rifle's scope. "This place isn't good enough." He glanced to his left wrist, Will recognizing one of the new wrist displays on him. He immediately felt a surge of jealousy that the new line of combat communication was in the hands of this soldier but not himself. It confused him, he never thought he would feel that kind of jealousy towards another Global Justice agent. Atton nodded to himself as he leaned his sniper rifle against his shoulder and tapped on it, a map of some sort appearing on the display. Nodding, he stood up and shut the display down, picking the GJA-19 up, "Follow me."

They traveled along a snow covered path, trudging through the somewhat thick snow. The wind howled at them despite most of the storm having trailed off. Will shivered as he was reminded of boot camp, putting his left hand to his mouth and blowing slowly into it to keep his face warm. Atton turned to the right suddenly, climbing up a steeper side of the cliff and getting into a prone position above. _"Yes,"_ he said before glancing down, "Got a vantage point; I can see two mercs and the path over. Get up here."

Will made sure his GJA-13 had the safety on and holstered it onto its back mount, climbing up and holding himself at the edge as he looked over the vista. There was a mountain path that was relatively easy to follow and Will could make out exactly how he'd get there as his combat awareness training kicked in. He glanced at Atton; "What's the plan, sir?"

"We follow the trail and look for another vantage point I can use. Once we have that, I need you to play distraction and engage the two guards. Nothing thick, just hurl a flash bang or shoot at them. That oughta activate the defenses. The moment they activate, stay in cover as I'll be using my _Lovemaker_ to full use. Pull back in case some try to get in close."

Will frowned, "They will raise an alarm if we do so, sir."

"I know, but once we made the breach it wouldn't be a stealth mission anyways. Once the exterior defenses are gone I want you to set a sonic mine on that pipe that leads from the nearest side down, the one that looks like a fuel line of sorts. Set the charge and clear out, I'll be by the entrance and we'll breach the base interior. The detonated fuel line ought to play havoc with their systems."

"Yes sir," Will acknowledged, sighing to himself as he dropped down, Atton following. _Let's just hope we can get to Wally quick enough. There's no way we can justify not getting to him considering we could have had an entire strike team with us._

XX

**Unidentified Dungeon Cell**

**Somewhere in Poland**

Wally whimpered in fear as his hands and legs remained bound to the wall, hanging above the floor of the cold stone dungeon that reminded him of the old one that his father kept as a historic reminder to Rodegan's older days. Cold, damp, and utterly unworthy of someone in his stature. "I am Wallace the Third and I _demand_ you release me!"

"Be silent," said a guttural female voice and a ninja clad in all white stepped out of the shadows, looking pale like a ghost. "Rodegan has strayed too far. It is time it is brought back under heel."

"What are you _talking about?_" Wally screamed as his arms were pulled up and legs down by the cuffs, stretching him out. He hollered in pain, screaming for dear life as his delicate limbs were pulled farther than they were supposed to be by the wall mounted stretching rack that he realized he was attached to. "_Stop stop STOOOOOOOP!"_ he howled. To his wounded satisfaction, it stopped. He panted, almost hyperventilating as the ninja stepped forward, looking at him and putting the back of her left hand to his face, as if checking to see if he was still warm.

"So you are the heir to the throne? Pffft. How pathetic. The Conclave chose the worst family to slap onto that ancient throne. Still, I suppose you can be used."

"Conclave? What nonsense are you jabbering about?"

"Oh, that's right," then ninja said, "they erased every trace from history's annals because they could not admit that they were wrong. Well, let me tell you something, Wally. We are about to correct that mistake. You will be our puppet in Rodegan once we have removed those democratic reforms."

"Wh… who are you?"

"I am known as _Wraith_, my sister was the one who captured you. You are not in Rodegan any longer, Wally."

_How did I wind up so far?_ He wondered, he could not remember anything after arriving in the WEE complex in the Alps. It looked the same to him, just had some equipment moved in. It made absolutely no sense to him as he had his attention dragged back to Wraith. He paled as he remembered the lessons he had been taught on political intrigue. _That common rabble drugged me!_ "Wh… what do you want of me?"

"For now, nothing. You are going to listen as we remind you just how far you people have fallen without an iron hand. Your… tools are surprising, but they are still primitive. You will learn just what your ancestors had to deal with until those Conclave scum decided to hide it all and let you glorified apes grow up on your own. You will find that there is a new throne for you to bend knee to."

"Bend my _knee?_" he demanded in outrage over the indignity, "I am of royal blood, I do _not_…" his brief flash of defiance was cut short as the stretching rack began to pull again, electing painful screams from him. He didn't know how long it took, but when he passed out it was a relief.

XX

**WEE Listening Post**

**Swiss Alps**

Will glanced over the large rock he had taken cover behind, eying the two mercenaries carrying AK-47's. There were two pylons next to the door that he recognized as laser turret bases. He glanced towards Atton's new vantage point a hundred meters back. With only thirty meters between himself and the mercenaries, Will fingered his flash-bang grenade, inhaling before he pulled the pin and threw it at the mercenaries. He crouched under cover again as he heard one of the mercenaries ask in a thick German accent, "_Vhat's zhat?"_ before an earsplitting _bang_ echoed across the mountainside and a white flash blew from it. The sound of powering up lasers was audible as Will glanced over, the two mercenaries having lost their grips on their rifles. Will took several shots with his GJA-13, hitting the mercenaries with stun rounds before ducking as the two laser turret pylons activated.

"We're under attack!" shouted someone running out the door. Will glanced over and noticed a WEE agent charging out with four mercenaries and another agent behind him. _Shit!_ Will swore to himself as he fingered another flash bang, about to pull the safety from it when he heard a loud _woosh_ and could make out a bolt of spiraling cyan energy speeding down from Atton's vantage point, and a shout of pain was audible over the laser turrets taking shots towards Will's cover.

XX

Atton smirked as he adjusted his aim and lethality, taking a shot at the turret with a set to kill energy round. The GJA-19 round sped forward and hit the laser turret, blasting into it and causing it to explode. The directional microphone brought sweet music to his ears as the mercenaries shouted in an assortment of European dialects as he shot the other laser turret, switching to stun and taking his last shot at another mercenary before reloading as he packed up to move in closer. _Alright number one, show me what you got._

XX

Will hooked the unarmed flash bang back to his belt and rose out of cover, laying down a suppressive spray of stun energy rounds into the mercenaries as the second turret exploded. The mercenaries threw themselves to the side to dodge, but two were downed by Will's spray and a third went down to Atton's sniper fire. With only one mercenary and one agent left, these were better odds until the rest of the base woke up. The AK-47 wielding mercenary opened fire towards Will, emptying his clip as the sturdy mountain boulder he had hidden behind took the hits. Counting his blessings as the firing stopped, Will rose and took the shots at the mercenary as he moved out of cover to fire again, taking the stun hits and collapsing.

Will suddenly received a hit to his left shoulder as an energy bolt caught him, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop his GJA-13 into the snow. Grunting as his head exploded from the electric charge speeding through him, he glanced over just in time to see a female WEE agent (Beta) charging with her shock staff ready. Will groaned as he fumbled for his stun watch, pulling himself up as she closed and fired. Unfortunately, the wind blew hard at that moment, sending the stun watch's wires astray. Will collapsed back into his cover as another energy bolt was shot over his cover. He fumbled with his watch, trying to retract the wires. It was too late as the WEE agent stood over him with a smirk on her face.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang that sounded exactly like a shotgun and a burst of blue energy caught the WEE agent with a pained yelp, knocking her down. Will looked in the direction where it came from to see Atton holding his GJA-15, which had wisps of smoke coming from the barrel. It took Will a moment to remember the main selling point of the GJA-15: twin combat modes that made it two guns in one metal package. "Nice job, Agent Du," Atton said as he pumped it and pushed a bolt action side control on the hybrid gun, switching it back to an assault rifle role. "Set the charge, I'll handle anyone who comes out to the slaughter."

"Yes sir!" Will said as he collected himself, disconnecting his stun watch and grabbing his GJA-13 before sprinting towards the tube to the right side of the door. It was a large tube, but Will leapt onto it anyways. Once he landed he pulled a sonic mine out of his pouch and planted it on the tube. Setting it to automatically detonate in fifteen seconds, he leapt off and sprinted to the door as another laser turret popped out and opened fire. Atton shot it with several shots of his own rifle, the energy rounds causing the turret to overload as energy shot through its electronics.

The sonic mine beeped loudly and a soft _whoosh_ came from the instantly vaporized charge as it demolished the lightly armored pipeline with harmonic resonance. Will glanced at the crumbled pipeline and whistled at the efficiency of the sonic mine. _Note to self,_ he thought, _do not underestimate what a lot of hertz can do…_

"Let's clean house," Atton said as he switched out the batteries to his rifle and switched its mode with the bolt action lever, "I'll get in close with my shotgun, you handle the mercenaries."

"Yes sir!" Will said as the two charged into the now opened door. There was a set of stairs into the main control room, where two agents were taking cover. Atton stormed forward as he dodged the energy bolts fired by the two WEE agent's with their shock staffs and tanked a third shot with his armor. Following several paces behind, Will took up a position at the top of the stairs and shot the mercenary he spotted on a balcony, catching her and causing her to collapse over the railing and land with a crunch as she hit head first and snapped her neck. He winced a moment as humanity's natural aversion to killing tried to tell him what he just did, but basic training and boot camp designed to kill that psychological aversion overrode it in an instant as he came out of cover and aimed above, checking for the last mercenary. A single shotgun burst echoed through the base as Atton happened to catch both WEE agents with one stun burst, knocking the two over their consoles like rag dolls.

"One left," Atton said as he looked around, "Up there!" he shouted as he took a shot, the shotgun blast fanning out into separate energy shots as it sprayed forward to a balcony next to the base's window which faced the smoking pipeline. Will opened fire with his rifle as the mercenary sprinted across towards a door, the energy bolts missing as Atton fired the third and final shot in his battery.

Will's trigger clicked several times as he pulled it. Sighing, he ejected the empty battery and reloaded at the same time as the _Specter_ operative cycled the next battery in his hybrid. The two hurried up the stairs, Atton taking point as they followed the mercenary's trail with the two crouching next to the door on opposite ends as it automatically opened, a hail of lead coming from it, one round nicking Atton's shoulder guard. Will made several gestures with his hands: a closed fist shake, a single finger pointed in the direction of the mercenary, and a nod. Atton returned it and held a finger up, then another, then grabbed the rifle with both hands as the mercenary ran out of ammo and stepped out of cover gun blazing. Will followed as they filled the hallway with light, catching the mercenary hiding in another doorway and knocking him into it. Will sprinted forward as Atton checked the flank. "Clear!" Will shouted as he verified the mercenary was unconscious, grabbing the AK-47, slipping the safety on, unloading it and the mercenary's sidearm, then sliding both across the floor.

"Nice work, Agent, now let's find the detention cells."

"_You won't find Wally here,_" said a female voice. Will whirled around as he saw what seemed to be a shadow walking up to him. Will opened fire into her, the rune-engraved shield flashing up yet again as the figure laughed mockingly at him, _"Shoot me with your pathetic magic analogs, it will not work."_

Will hurriedly retreated backwards to Atton, who aimed his GJA-15 in shotgun mode at her, "Alright lady, this is your one chance to surrender. I suggest you take it and come peacefully."

She laughed a shrill and hollow laugh that sent a chill down Will's spine. And then she began to monologue of all things. _"You fools fight the inevitable. You fight against a superior substance, a superior method far greater than your puny little civilizations…_"

Atton whispered quietly through his helmet, "Dial reinforcements…"

"_The masquerade put up shall be destroyed and magic will take its rightful place in humanity, those with its might leading again!"_

"…code signal Sierra, Hotel, Oscar, Charlie, Kilo…"

"_Rodegan will be brought back under its true masters, and its people will be the first to bend knee in preparation for a return to glory. For thousands of years you've erred, now the time comes for correction!"_

"… channel Alpha, Lima, Papa, Sierra, Thirteen." Will quickly translated the NATO military alphabet to actual letters; _shock_ on channel _Alps-13_.

"_Now, soldiers of Global Justice, will _you_ surrender and spare yourselves the pain of fighting the inevitable as history comes to pass?"_

Atton spoke up, "I'll assume that's a sign of hostile intent." And he took a shot, the energy blast soaring forward. Will quickly dialed the code as Atton laid down suppressive energy shotgun bursts before switching to assault rifle mode as he cycled the next battery. The two fell back into the control room as Ghost leapt around, trying to close in. The code dialed, Will opened fire, hitting her for real. She grunted in pain as she landed on the opposite balcony.

"Nice shot, Will!" Atton said as he sprayed a set of thirteen shots towards her. They missed as she disappeared, vanishing from their view. Will looked around as the two fell back to the center of the control room, bunkering up in the center as Will checked his ammunition. "Damn it," he cursed, "Low on ammo!"

"Conserve shots," Atton said before whirling around and pointing the shotgun at Will's face. "Duck!"

Will did so, and Atton fired, blasting Ghost away from his flank where she nearly impaled him with her dual blades. Will got up and saw her landing on her feet like a cat and immediately leapt into the air as Will took several rationed shots at her. But she was far too agile for him to hit, leaping around and dodging his attacks. _It's like trying to nail Possible in a sim!_ Will angrily thought as the agile style reminded him of the cheerleader. At that moment, he felt it all crash down. He realized that _he was outmatched_. That he was not _good enough_ for this. That he was merely a man who was fighting things beyond mankind's abilities. Then he noticed Atton breaking cover.

The _Specter_ operative leapt out and stormed towards her, firing the remaining two shots at her and staggering her before he hitched the weapon onto his back and grabbed a thin cylindrical object from his harness and hurled it at her. It exploded into a mass of sticky webs as it caught her legs, tripping her up. She snarled as Atton closed and smashed her in the gut with both fists. The breath was knocked painfully out of her as she cut the webs with her wrist blades and rolled out of the way of Atton's melee assault. He could only watch in awe as the two fought. Ghost faded into shadow again, but Atton was after her and Will could make out her as well, the moving shadow. He took aim, but hesitated. Was he a good enough shot to hit her without hitting Lieutenant Williams? He was supposed to be Global Justice's number one agent, but he was outpaced by civilian cheerleaders. The contradiction came back to him as he struggled with it.

Atton answered it as he tackled Ghost and smashed her left wrist blade under his heavy combat boot before punching her in the gut again and grabbing her by the strap running across her breasts, hurling her into the wall with all his strength. The ninja grunted as she hit the wall and Atton moved in and grabbed her right arm and broke it as he pulled back sharply. She howled in pain as Atton used the opportunity to jam the remaining sword into the wall. Will came out of cover and trained his rifle towards her head as Atton asked, "Alright lady, _talk_. Where's Wallace?"

"You'll… never win…" she gasped out between painful breaths. "You think… he's here? You're too late. He's gone. Rodegan will be..." she groaned, "brought under its true masters. And this is just a _start_." At this point, she gained strength in her statements, "Your so-called civilization will be restored to its proper place. You can't stop it: it's been foreseen!"

Atton shoved her into the wall, "What bullshit are you talking about? I've read better clichés in stuff written in preteen girl's fanfics."

Will could not help but look at him with a quizzical look as he tried to understand what the elite soldier had just said. Atton's face was not visible, but he looked terrifying in his helmet as he pinned Ghost into the wall with both hands now. She grunted before uttering last words:

"I'll… never… talk. You're all... doomed..." she exhaled, but did not inhale afterwards.

At that point, her head lolled back. Will frowned as Atton removed her mask, revealing a beautiful woman with strong cheek bones and a hair color somewhere between blond and brown. That beauty might of haunted less professional soldiers if it were not for the fact of there being red and blood like foam frothing at her mouth. Atton dropped her like a rag doll and she hit the floor with a thud, "Bah, she committed suicide. Well, we can't say she didn't have a pair, can we?"

"Erm, no sir." Will answered, curling his lips at the unprofessional and concerning casualness at which Atton handled the woman's presumably painful death. He dismissed it for the moment as a coping mechanism and glanced at the console, "I'll check the consoles, and see if there is any data worth extracting."

Atton nodded, "Do that, I'll check the rooms."

Will accessed the console and pulled a decoder from his tool belt, finding his way to the WEE network and connecting Global Justice's hackers to it. Information flashed before his eyes, some deleted, but he found the coordinates. A facility under Warsaw, Poland that had strange energy readings. But the notes worried him further: It stated that it was not a WEE facility, but belonging to an unknown organization that they had dealings with. It was only discovered because they had put a tracking device on Wally. He frowned as he read the data. _This attack was a collaboration? Things are deeper than we think, then…_

XX

**Worldwide Evil Empire Headquarters**

**Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean**

Gemini growled as the agent approached him cautiously. "Report, Agent Tau."

"Yes sir. Two Global Just…"

_Barkbarkbarkbark, BARK!_ Pepe began to bark incessantly as the hated words were said. Gemini switch from his baritone to a baby talk as he began to reassure the dog, "It's okay Pepe," he said quietly, "Agent Tau doesn't know how much it upsets you…" switching to his dangerous baritone as the dog settled down he asked: "You were saying, _Agent Tau?_"

The agent gulped as he continued, "Two _enemy_ agents have broken into our listening post in the Swiss Alps, sir. They have taken the entire facility and we have lost all contact with those within."

Gemini frowned, "The same facility that Ghost is within?"

"Yes sir."

Gemini slammed his cybernetic fist down, "Is the deal compromised?"

"N… No sir, the required materials and the details to acquire more h… have made it."

Gemini nodded slowly, "Good. Now we end this deal and let Ghost's benefactors handle the fallout of weak-link Wally's rescue…"

"She's dead, sir, but her men moved him prior to the Global Just…"

"**Have. A. Seat.**" Gemini declared as he hit the button, Pepe's yelping deaf to him as Tau fearfully took the seat. "You have failed me for the last time, Agent Tau." With that, he ejected the agent into the sea to his fate before turning to console the dog. His mind whirred as he calculated the losses; _The post will of self-destructed most data, so Project Rima is secure, and my little sister will never know… but how could two of her agents of taken out the entire base? It takes entire squads to do so!_

He frowned as he considered everything: Even with Wally removed, Rodegan still had Adam Campan for its elections. _But then again, GJ was only able to spare one squad and that elite, likely pulling him for a short time. This is much more valuable..._ he dialed Jack Hench's secretary to arrange a meeting on short notice: He needed a large number of henchmen. Enough to take on Rodegan's roughly fifty-man military. Dialing he dialed one of his new agents. "Agent Sigma, prepare additional equipment in the base's factory and contact David Findley, I will need him and his Fraggers' services."

_"Yes sir!"_

He leaned back, bringing up designs that he had toyed with for his eventual plans to proper begin a world conquest. _No, no..._ he decided as he looked over the blueprints for a drone-manned light tank, _that's too pricy to get online in time..._ he rejected a doomsday device as overkill for the operation and a sure way to wake NATO up even with Rodegan not being a NATO country. _Hrrrm. It seems I have little in the way of terrifying weapons to use in this. What a shame. A show of henchmen will have to suffice._

He smiled down to Pepe, "Yes, Pepe, it is time for us to begin. A show of force to remind the world that the _enemy_ is nothing more than a weak effort to halt the inevitable, even with the UN turning it into an expy. With them distracted with rescuing weak-link Wally, they will never see us coming."

_"Sir!"_ said the agent on communications, _"Jack Hench is ready for you!"_

"Excellent."

XX

**Airspace over Berlin, Germany**

**GJ Hovercraft**

Will frowned as they spoke with King Wallace. "Your highness, Wally was moved from the facility before we arrived. We have located where he is, however."

"_Please, do everything you can."_

Doctor Director joined the conversation, _"Agent Du, Lieutenant Williams. There are no teams in the area that can reach you in time for this mission, but Captain Lucas B. Sunspot from the team en route to Warsaw to set up the new firebase can support your efforts with his squads."_

"What's the ETA?" Atton asked as he glanced at his stun watch.

"_Not in time for you to go in the moment you land. You will have to wait for an hour to begin the rescue."_

"We won't have time," Atton said, "If we're going to rescue Wally, we need to deploy immediately upon landing. Those reinforcements will help, but if we don't go in right away they'll know something is up and dig in quicker or even evac with Wally. King Wallace, Ghost said something about Rodegan being brought back under true masters. What do you know of that?"

"_Rodegan has not been under any foreign master since its founding, save a brief period of domination by Napoleon."_ Wallace answered with a frown, _"I know not what this 'Ghost' was talking about. Rodegan's kingdom was forged a long time ago, back far enough even the Romans would consider us old. We were always small, but we were larger then until we began being steadily downsized. The age of Napoleon was when our borders were effectively finalized."_

Will shook his head, "I do not think this is anything that we can handle. Lieutenant. I advise that we focus on rescuing Wally from the enemy as soon as possible, but we need to have support for this mission to secure that base. We need a full strike team."

Atton nodded, "We do, but we won't have much time before they scuttle. Agent Du, you and I will go into the fray again. We'll clean out what we can and blow open a way for the reinforcements to get in there. Doctor Director, did a tech scan reveal anything?"

"_Affirmative, there's a passage on the outskirts of the city you can take towards the base, but I cannot tell what you will find in there. It will be close quarters, however."_

Atton nodded, "Alright then. Agent Du, you have GJA-14 certification?"

"Yes sir."

"Grab a GJA-14 and leave the _Diamond Back_ behind, grab extra clips too, we're going to need them."

Will nodded, "Yes sir."

"_Lieutenant,"_ Doctor Director chimed in, _"This plan is extremely bold; are you certain you can commit to this without reinforcements?"_

"Ma'am, the _Specter_-class of operatives have a job description of emulating the example set to us four years ago by Kim Possible when she worked with Agent Du here. This is just her style and we know how things go when it happens."

"_Lieutenant,"_ Wallace chimed in, _"Do not become overconfident, if this is indeed anything like Ghost you will face soldiers shielded against you."_

"I know," Atton said as he smiled to Will, "But they can be broken, and those shields don't protect against melee attacks. We can win this as long as the reinforcements actually show up."

The two leaders sighed, _"Very well."_ Wallace said, _"Just bring my son back, I beg you."_ He ended his end of the transmission.

Doctor Director spoke up after he left. _"Operative Williams, Agent Du. You two are standing in the shatter point of this entire operation. If you rescue the young Wallace than WEE's efforts, collaboration or not, will be nullified. Fail and we will likely see the peace threatened even further and bolder WEE actions. It is up to both of you to do this and make it clear that Global Justice not only can stand alone for the free world, but thrive while doing so."_

Atton nodded, "I understand, ma'am. We'll report back when we've breached the base." The transmission ended and he turned to Will. "We're going to make use of flash bangs to keep it quick. Do you have a set of combat shades?"

"No sir, they are not standard issue to all agents anymore after GDIA was passed."

Atton frowned, "Right, we had to cut gear lists to field more agents to do the job. There's an extra set in the back, grab them. They're pretty good at keeping you from being blinded. We'll use indoor combat tactics; get in there and hit them with suppressive blasts."

Nodding, Will answered: "If there are too many, we will be easily overwhelmed."

"I know. But that's why I'm bringing extra flash bangs and want you to carry a few sonic charges: in close quarters those things will knock anyone caught in the blast into next week unless they have aural dampeners."

Now those were still standard issue and part of all Global Justice headsets. Will nodded slowly, still hesitant about the plan. "Very well, sir. We'll do it your way."

Atton nodded, "Alright. It's up to the two of us to bring Wally home. Let's not disappoint his father."

XX

**End Chapter**

*** In comparison to Deconstructive Legacy, this has a lot more inspiration in the style of **_**Mass Effect**_** or **_**C&C Renegade**_** rather than base KP. Just a few guys going in and doing a lot of damage to the bad guys with high-tech weapons rather than an arsenal of kung-fu. All set to stun, of course.**

*** As for the GJA-line weapons (AKA, Global Justice Armaments), I always figured that Global Justice had weapons much like the lasers used by assorted villains and they just never appeared as Disney and its censors probably would not approve too much of the good guys using a weapon directly rather than redirecting a villain's (IE, Kim redirecting Shego's blasts) or a more situational occurrence (IE, Ron and the laser drill in the giant cheese wheel). In-universe as an explanation is that they're a more recent arrival, the GJA-13 being a 2006 introduction.**


	3. Chapter 3: Wraith

"_Doctor Director, what's the sitch?" […] "Why weren't we called? Kidnapped foreign royalty is something I handle once a trimester." […] "Yeah, I know we were busy with Drakken, but we would of went there right after if we knew to give your boys a hand." […] "You've got men handling it? Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you need us don't hesitate to call, alright?"_

- Kim Possible to Doctor Director in regards to the situation involving Rodegan

XX

**Chapter 3: Wraith**

**June 9th, 2007**

**4:00 AM Local Time**

**Somewhere under Warsaw, Poland**

Wally groaned as he woke up again, finding himself still in the dungeon, still stuck to the rack. He glanced around again, still the same place. His stomach grumbled as he realized he had not eaten since the kidnapping. The clamps suddenly released and he dropped to the stone floor, pain shooting up his delicate legs as he landed on it. "Ow, ow, ow," he muttered as he slid onto his side.

The cell door opened and an armored man walked in with a tray, "Here's your meal." He said dully as he dropped it and walked out. The stew and water splashed out and landed back into their cheap wooden containers as the old wooden tray landed. He looked at the horrid smelling porridge and likely musty water, turning his nose in disgust. "Ew..."

His stomach grumbled again, but the upper class twit he had refused to eat such lowly food. It was ill fit for someone of his stature. He looked around and said, "I _demand_ a proper meal!"

"You are in no position to make demands." said the guard outside the door, looking in with his scarred and ugly face, "Shut up and eat already."

Wally looked at him, pushing himself up and dusting off. As he did so, he realized that his clothes had been all torn. Scoffing, he thought: _This is so indecent, how can I be expected to carry favor with the people when I look like I have been through the garbage dumps! This was not how a democracy was supposed to go!_

Yet again his stomach grumbled. He tried to force it to stop, but it wouldn't even as he sat down with a sickening squish. Then he sniffed; the dudgeon air was one thing, but the putrid stench he realized was his own waste, caught in his royal undergarments. "Ewewewewew!" he shouted as he ripped the pants off, the guard outside laughing at his predicament.

XX

XX

Wraith growled as she heard the news; "My little sister is _dead?_"

"Y... y... yes ma'am!" said the sniveling soldier, "S.. sh... she committed suicide rather than be captured."

Her wrist blade was out in a flash and it was right above the conscript's neck. One swift stroke and she could vent her anger on the miserable man. It was not like he was important without any magical potential. They were expendable fodder anyways, drafted into the cause to serve in that role. The soldier whimpered as she pulled the blade away, glancing towards the base's assigned spellcaster, Cornelius, who was in charge of the whole operation. He shrugged.

With one swift slash, the soldier's neck was slashed open. He gasped in horrific pain as the blade tore through the jugular. Collapsing with a dull thud in his chainmail, he bled out onto the floor and died slowly. Snorting, Wraith pulled a cloth out and wiped the blade, anger still seething. "What is it?"

"We will be leaving soon," the robed man said, "Be sure the prisoner is prepared."

"Yes sir," she said with a bow. They may of been above the rabble, but he still held status over her. And formerly, her sister. It was time to leave soon. They just had to get their teleportation circle ready. She inhaled as she glanced back at the dead soldier, whose eyes were starting to blank as he stared at the stone wall._ This mission is only the start of many operations, many moves to begin moving puppets forging our path. Soon, we will be at work bringing the natural order about._

XX

XX

Will Du could not believe everything that had happened so far. It had started so simple; a simple peacekeeping mission into what was literally Europe's smallest country short of the Vatican. Yet now here he was: following a _Specter_-class operative into the jaws of an unknown enemy base with the only knowledge of it being that they had unusual energy signatures and a lack of most basic modern day technology. He could not believe the mission he was about to embark on: Reinforcements were available to give them a full strike force that was _necessary_ for them to break through, _but they were not going to wait for them_. Instead they were going to charge headlong into the enemy base unawares, blast a hole for the reinforcements, and somehow rescue Wally before they scuttled the base or took them out. _This is madness!_ Will thought to himself as he quietly followed the Specter. He was carrying extra batteries for the GJA-14 he was using, and Atton had left his GJA-19 behind in favor of additional ammunition for his GJA-15 _Vindicator_. Both were carrying flash bang grenades, but the Specter was a walking armory as usual. Still, Will had more of the ammunition that would likely be shared by the two once they ran low on ammunitions. _I feel like a mule… a sidekick._

Sidekick. The word stuck in his mind as he looked at his position as Global Justice's 'number one agent'. He still did not know how that still applied if any _Specter_ operative could wipe the walls with him and afterwards use him as a mop. He was not even in the same category as them threat wise. He was like a raw recruit without combat experience with a jackknife against a fully trained and armed commando. He did not understand how he could be Global Justice's best while one man armies were walking around that were _not_ him. _Is that all I'm good for now?_ He wondered, _Are soldiers like me only good for trying to tie up henchmen, so our supers and elites can fight theirs? Are we outdated relics?_ The thought did not sit well with him. He was an _agent of Global Justice_, trained to never give up the fight against evil no matter the odds, to prevail through tactics and skill. He glanced down at his stun watch, the first and for a long time the primary weapon he had. He remembered the first time he had worn it: it was like being given a great responsibility. It had saved him against WEE agents and thugs alike, and now it was regaled to a secondary role to the modernized energy shotgun he was carrying. Weapons that first saw use amongst _Specters_ from what he knew, and only began being issued down to agents when they had the facilities to do so.

_How can we fight with these heroes around? _Why_ are we even needed when we have all these heroes around? Why is Global Justice not just focusing on heroes like Possible or Team Go or any of them, why is it bothering with us agents when it can get those kinds of people?_ Will could hardly place his wayward thoughts. He saw Atton dispose of Ghost easily where he and other GJ agents had failed to do so. He saw Atton turn into a general one man army against WEE soldiers. He felt _inferior_, he felt like he was an afterthought, like he was just brought along for the ride as a second for some shred of regulations that were above his clearance level.

Atton held a hand up for them to stop as they came at a four-way cross section. Will nodded and took up a firing position in the event a hostile appeared ahead of them as Atton quickly checked the other two paths. He wondered how the strict discipline he'd been trained with had proven inferior. _I cannot fight these kind of supers, yet that was part of Global Justice's purpose. It doesn't make any sense!_ he thought as Atton gave him the all clear signal. They continued quickly down the tunnel, Atton finally asking: "Something wrong, Agent Du?"

"No, sir..." he automatically said, remembering one of Drill Sergeant Zim's phrases he drilled into their heads: _If it isn't mission related, keep it to yourself. Speak, Strike, Redress._

"I know they drill it into your heads to keep everything mission related, but I need to know. Can't watch each other's back if we have issues."

Will inhaled, trying to think of how to say that he wasn't good enough. He was not even sure if he _could_ say it aloud. Thinking it was one thing, the fleeting thought that dashes through the tunnels like they were in on a daily basis, but actually vocalizing it was another. He was not sure if he could admit that he was not Global Justice's number one agent. That he was, if he was lucky, a number two to the real ones. The tunnel began to give way from rough dirt to more orderly stone as he said, "I don't know, sir. I feel... I feel like I am living a lie. I am called our best agent, but you are an example that I am _not_ the best. I cannot even hold a candle to you. Fuck," he did not catch the foul language in time, "A _civilian cheerleader_ is better than me!"

Atton paused, looking at him and raising his helmet's visor so he could do so properly. "Agent Du, you _are_ Global Justice's number one agent. I'm a completely different category, I'm a Specter _operative_. You, Will Du, are as much a hero as I am, or Possible is. You may not be in the same weight category, but to say you're less of a hero? Bigger disservice than Westborough Baptist protesting the funeral of an American soldier over BS like letting gays be themselves." Atton's answer was unusually slow, as if he was confronted with ugly thoughts himself. Will mulled over it a moment.

"I am not sure I understand, sir."

"I don't think I do either. I feel like I had some, I dunno, obligation to say something like that." He lowered his visor, "Think on what I said either way. It's the truth, even if I'm not sure of it myself. Come on, we need to deliver a royal pain to these guys."

Will nodded as he disabled the safety on his GJA-14, "Yes sir."

Five minutes later they came upon a sealed door made of wood and inscribed with runes. Will was not sure what it was, but as the dirt had given way to cut stone they knew they were there. Atton set a charge on the door and they got back, waiting...

As Atton hit the detonator, there was a brief moment where it seemed like the explosion would never happen.

Then with force amplified by the tunnel so much that Will was nearly clobbered against the wall the door exploded into wooden shrapnel. In the opening made, a guard stood clad in chainmail bearing a black and blood red tabard over it, carrying a bastard sword but no shield, a simple leather cap for head protection. Unfortunately for the guard, he was ripped into by the high velocity wood, several rune engraved flashes emitting from his armor as the higher velocity bits hit.

XX

XX

Wraith about to enter the cell to move Wally to a new position when she heard it and snarled. The explosion had echoed throughout the small hideout. _So, we are exposed._ She looked at the nearby spearman and slapped him across the face, "Wake up! Raise the alarm!"

"Y, yes ma'am!" the conscript stuttered in fear as he hurried off. She shook her head as the base's three dozen other soldiers grabbed their weapons and moved out. _They're weaklings, but at least they can swarm._ The only non-magic using man in the base who was any shred of real competency walked up in his heavy armor, hand-and-a-half sword sheathed. The two nodded out of mutual respect, and she went towards Wally's cell.

XX

XX

Following Atton into the breach they had made, Will fired the shotgun at an incoming guard armed with a mace and wooden shield. The shield shattered as the energy round hit, but the rune engraved leather armor he wore glowed faintly a moment as it absorbed some, but not all, of the impact. Hit by the burst, the guard collapsed backwards, stunned unconscious. "Good shot!" Atton said as he pulled the pin from a flash bang and hurled it into a group of guards charging with assorted melee weapons from what looked like a barracks. Will's combat goggles shielded him from the light, but he was still forced to squint as another guard charged with a sword. Taking the shot, the blast of energy caught the guard and staggered him. _Crap,_ he thought as the large man closed in stumbling. Will braced himself and smacked the guard in the head with the butt of the shotgun, a crack telling Will that he may of hit too hard as the man fell to the ground, his forehead bleeding where he had been hit.

Atton decked a swordswoman in the face, knocking her back before he blasted her at point blank with his GJA-15's shotgun mode. She crumpled to the ground as Atton ducked a sizzling energy bolt that shot towards him. Will caught sight of two crossbowmen taking shots at them with some sort of crossbow that had a glowing firing mechanism rather than physical bolts. _Alright, this is really screwed up now!_ he thought as he pulled a sonic charge from his belt and shouted "_Grenade!_" before hurling it towards them. The charge landed next to another squad of soldiers and the two crossbowmen, who frowned as they looked at it confusedly before it exploded into a burst of sound, taking out the entire squad. The two Global Justice soldiers took cover behind a table Atton overturned as more guards came from deeper inside, leaping over the downed men and women between them and their two opponents.

Will panted as he rose and fired the last shot in the clip into an incoming guard, ejecting the battery and shoving another one inside the shotgun. Atton was switching the GJA-15 to assault rifle mode, "Keep them from getting close, I'll handle the ones at range and lay down suppressive fire."

"Yes sir!" With that, he rose and blasted a female guard charging with a large two handed flail. The impact of the energy burst slammed into her as she closed on them and causing her to collapse backwards, dropping the flail and sliding several feet back. Atton was opening fire into the incoming soldiers in chainmail, the energy rounds being absorbed partially by the runes, whatever they were. _Some sort of shield device attuned against projectiles,_ Will decided as he glanced behind them, checking the flank. A soldier charged with a spiked club, but Will hit him with a single shotgun blast at five yards, taking him down and overwhelming whatever barriers he had.

Atton howled in pain as an energy blast caught him in the left shoulder, knocking him down and smoke was rising from his shoulder-guard. _"SHIT!"_ he swore loudly as he stayed in cover clutching the burned shoulder, "Will, take some shots!"

Glancing out of cover, Will saw two soldiers charging with broad swords and jumping over their downed comrades. While not stopped, the bodies they leapt over did slow them down. He glanced down at the shotgun's energy readout: _Two shots, then I have to reload._ He paused, trying to decide between blasting both individually or waiting until they were closer to try and hit them both with the same shot. An energy bolt shot over him, telling him that he did not have that kind of time. Taking the shot, he nailed the left guard and took him down. Will turned and fired the last shot, but the second guard, a bear of a man, tanked the hit despite staggering as he kept charging. Will fired his stun watch at him, the electric charge shooting through him with whatever shielding he had nullified by the shotgun blast and he slid forward. Ducking back into cover after retracting the stun watch, the man crashed into the table and shook it. Will glanced at Atton as he reloaded; "Sir, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he grunted as he pulled a needle out of his arm and discarded it. Will frowned as he recognized it as GJ's field painkillers, the same kind he did not have when Astrid was wounded. Atton grabbed his rifle and opened fire with a shotgun blast before converting it to assault rifle mode, his attack taking out a guard charging with a spear and his suppressive fire hitting the crossbowman, whose strange shields flashed against the first two hits but failed on the third and fourth. "Not sure how many of these guys they got left, but they're worse than Drakken's dudes!"

"Sir, never underestimate the enemy." Will answered as he blasted another soldier trying to flank them.

"You had Zim as a training sarge, didn't you? Good man." Atton said with a faint smirk as he pulled a flash bang out, "Flash grennade!" he shouted as he hurled it towards a small squad of six coming in. Will glanced at the other door to the right, it smashed open and a soldier charged with a spear, but a shotgun blast took him down. _I must admit,_ he thought as he pumped the weapon, _I love shotguns in close quarters._ The guard landed on top of the one who tried to charge prior.

"Yes sir," he answered as one last soldier charged. Will and Atton both rose at the same time, and two simultaneous blasts of their energy shotguns sailed into him and blew him backwards over his downed comrades and into the wall. _Well, that's surprising,_ Will thought as he recalled Newton's Third Law. The two looked around: they had taken down almost thirty six soldiers, all now piled up across the room. Will had a hard time understanding that they two had just survived a slug fest while they were outnumbered eighteen to one. However, as he looked closer he noticed that many of the guards were dead, having fallen on their comrades weapons, blood and bodily waste bleeding out onto the floor. Will winced as the two began to step over it, moving towards the back.

"Hopefully they know something once we have them back in interrogation," Will said as they reached the other side.

"Assuming they aren't all armed for suicide, yeah." Atton commented as he stepped over a half eviscerated guard carefully, "But those shields weren't as tough as I imagined. Much weaker than Ghost's shielding alright. Odd that WEE shock staves wouldn't be able to breach them."

"Perhaps she and her escorts were elites and thus better equipped?" Will offered. "Given her actions, I believe it's safe to extrapolate that data."

"Agreed. Good job in there, Agent Du. Weren't for you we wouldn't of gotten through that."

"You carried the day, sir," Will said automatically, but he wondered why in the back of his mind. _I got out unscathed, he took a hit. Both of us took down considerable numbers of hostiles. No wonder why they went to WEE for help!_

He began mulling over in the back of his mind what Atton had said earlier, how he was the best but in a different category. _That doesn't make sense, how can I be Global Justice's top agent yet those in other categories are superior to me? It's oxymoronic..._

"Hang on," Atton said as they came to a corner room of roughly fifteen by fifteen foot space. The room ahead had several benches and there was a rack of torturer's gear on the wall, but otherwise it was relatively open. It only led to one corridor that shared a corner with the hall they were with. The two hit the side of the wall and Atton glanced over before whispering: "Alright, prison over there, female ninja in all white in the cell itself and some heavily armored soldier with them. He looks like an officer or some sort of knight."

Will gulped, nodding. "Plan?"

"Arming flash bang," Atton said as he pulled the last flash bang from his belt and disarmed it, sliding it down the corridor. Will shut his eyes and braced for the sonic boom. It hit and there was shouting, the two moving into the corridor quickly and aiming down the hall shouting "_Drop your weapons!"_

XX

Wraith snarled as she whirled around deafened for a moment as her ears howled in pain. "Captain Richard! Slow them down!" she shouted to the heavily armored soldier as he squeezed and activated one of the wards in his armor, rectifying any blindness he suffered from the explosion. She strode into the cell, menacing Wally and saying, "Come on, whelp, you're coming with me."

_"PLEASE!"_ he begged, voice barely audible over the whine in her ears, "Just say the word and I'll give you _anything!_"

_"Forget it,"_ said a voice that echoed in her head, _"Retreat to the back, we leave without Wallace the Third."_

She blinked in surprised: the entire point of the operation was for them to capture him and use him as a puppet so they could begin a foothold. Why would they abandon the plan now, after losing so much? She heard the captain talking to the two soldiers who had breached the base.

_"We must reevaluate,_" the voice added, _"Wraith, pull back."_

She slipped into the shadows, Wally whimpering as she did so and dropped him.

XX

Will frowned as the heavily armored man who looked like a knight out of the Middle Ages stepped up. "You two are great warriors," he stated, offering a polite bow, "I am honored to duel such. Let us begin!"

Atton fired full auto into him, exhausting his entire magazine in several seconds. The flashes of light left Will's eyes dilating as they tried to adjust despite the protection offered by the combat shades. The knightly man stood tall as he moved his shield in front of him, his shield flashing with the runes that Ghost had. Atton sighed, "Damn it, been wanting to use that one liner a long time..."

"Sir, focus!" Will said as he fired a shotgun blast down the corridor as their opponent charged. He raised his physical shield and absorbed the hit again as a second one followed, slowing him down momentarily as Atton began to add his own shotgun bursts. The two began to move back quickly, Atton getting a third burst off before the plate wearing man slammed the specter into the wall. Will stumbled back as he reloaded and fired into the knight's back, causing him to grunt and turn, dropping Atton back to the floor in the process. Will fired a second and third blast, emptying his shotgun's clip in rapid pace. As if answering prayers however, the third hit shattered the shield, but the cost of it saw Will tackled into the wall, the sword inches from his head when two wires shot into the sword from behind and pulled, an electric charge speeding down and causing the knight to loosen his grip just enough for the wires to pull the sword away.

"What the?" the knight shouted as he turned, still holding Will with one arm. Atton caught the sword as he released it from his stun watch, pointing it challengingly towards the knight. Turning, Will lost focus as he was hurled towards Atton, crashing into the specter and the sound of metal clanging echoing in his ears. He felt himself pushed off as Atton rose and pulled himself next to the wall, watching Atton engage the knight in hand-to-hand combat. Will shook his head as he reached for the GJA-15, checking it to make sure it was in the right mode. Atton uppercut the knight and knocked him back before dodging a swift right hook, answering with a leg sweep. The knight grunted as he landed on the ground, and Will knew he had his shot. He pulled the trigger and held.

Three pulled triggers later, the three energy bursts smashed against the knight and left him unconscious. Red foam rose from his mouth as Atton caught his breath, "Nice shot, Agent Du."

"Thank you... sir..." Will answered, inhaling deeply to catch his breath as he flipped the safety on and handed it back to Atton, who had grabbed his GJA-14 and offered it back. They took a moment to reload and make sure the weapons still worked.

"Let's find Wally." Atton said.

The two hurried, checking each cell. The first cell they checked, however, was more of a library. The entered cautiously, aiming their weapons towards the dark corners and Will turned to watch the doorway. "Any ideas, sir?"

"Looks like an office, or a library." Atton said. Will glanced back to see him walking up to the desk, briefly flipping through one of the texts on it. "Lotta interesting stuff here. Should grab some of it on the way out."

"Yes sir. Let's keep moving." Will answered, and the two continued to explore, this time finding actual cells. Four cells in they found Wally, but the sight horrified Will so much that he wish he was currently submerged in the mysteriously rumored substance known as 'brain soap'.

Wally was on the floor, his pants worn inside out and covered in his own feces. The dirtied pants looked like they had been through and the mushy remains of what was presumably a meal was scattered on the floor, Wally's face covered in the wrecked meal. Will inhaled sharply before instantly regretting it as he received a few days worth of body odor up his nose for the trouble, nearly knocking him out cold. "Aw, _gross_!" Atton exclaimed, "And I thought WEE camps were bad."

Wally's eyes widened as he realized rescue had come, "Oh _thankyouthankyouthankyou!_" he exclaimed loudly in his annoying voice, hugging Atton's leg as he stumbled forward, "You have no idea the _indignities_ they forced on us!"

Atton's jaw dropped slightly underneath the helmet as he looked down, a glance to Will telling him all he needed to know: _This prick was the next in line for the throne?_

XX

"Where did she go..." muttered Cornelius as he prepared his escape, amazed at how swiftly the conscripts had been cut down by the two soldiers. _This is not good; an entire base lost to two soldiers? And from the non-magical populace as well... at least they do not have barriers against magical bolts yet._

He closed his eyes, trying to get a sense of the base and sensed conflict arising. Sighing, he made his preparations to leave. _Looks like Wraith joins her sister. Foolish girl, she will not live for our rise to power._ He attuned the crystalline matrix and stepped into the center of the runes, channeling his power to activate it, and escape to another base. A clever man always escaped before they were overwhelmed, and he was a clever man.

XX

Will and Atton were suddenly interrupted as a white figure smashed Atton from behind, twin blades slashing across his backside straps and causing them to fall off. Atton whirled around and barely parried the second strike of twin blades, but the block left deep cuts into his rifle. He also blocked the second set of strikes and Will fired a blast with his GJA-14, only to hit the white clad ninja's rune-engraved shield again. She howled loudly, "_You will pay for killing my sister!"_

Atton's rifle was knocked away and he grabbed one of her wrists, breaking the sword by its flat side against his armored kneecap. A head butt followed from Atton, knocking her back and left her with only one wrist blade. She snarled and faded into shadows in a puff of white smoke.

"Look alive!" Atton shouted as he tried to follow her. Will could make out small disturbances in the dust bunnies and fired, a flash of shielding telling him that Wraith was moving towards him. He dove to the floor as a swipe from her blade revealed her as whatever cloaking she had failed. Will rolled under her as she leapt over him, a sword strike nearly impaled his shoulder as he crawled out of the way quickly. Atton charged into her and slammed her into the wall, grabbing her sword hand. She got her bladeless hand free and punched Atton across the head, knocking him back and to the floor and holding the blade in a position to stab Atton despite having just punched a man wearing an armored helmet. Will suddenly had a flash of realization when Atton's words went through his head: _You, Will Du, are as much a hero as I am, or Possible is. You may not be in the same weight category, but to say you're less of a hero?_

It finally clicked what he meant: It was not the fact that he was able to be a one man army, it was the fact that he was fighting and of the mainline he was the best. He was able to stand with those even better. If nothing else, _that_ made him _a_ number one agent of Global Justice. He took the shot.

The blast of energy hit Wraith's shielding, flashing into it before dissipating but causing Wraith to pause. Pumping the shotgun, Will took a second shot, which also blasted against her barrier but it seemed to be fading. The final shot got through, knocking her into the wall with a grunt. Atton was up and he grabbed her blade and pulled, twisting her arm and breaking it with a painful hand-to-hand maneuver before grabbing her by the shirt, lifting her like a GWA wrestler before hurling her into the stone floor with a loud crash, "And _stay down!_" he shouted.

"Fuck... you..." she gasped, grunting from pain. A sparkle suddenly came to her eye, predatory in nature, "You think this is it?" she gasped in short breathes, "The _Conclave_ will destroy you! You're just too foolish to try and stop them, you insignificant little lambs to the slaughter!" Atton leaned down on her,

"What's the Conclave?"

"You mean you don't _know_?" she chuckled evilly before hacking coughs took hold, turning the last laugh into a gross chortle. Then her head lolled back, red foam coming from her mouth as whatever suicide method these odd soldiers carried activated. Will winced somewhat and heard a horrified scream from Wally.

"I _hate_ that!" Will exclaimed as it finally got to him. "I _really_ hate those who commit suicide; makes finding out what they're on about that much more difficult!"

"Dead men tell no tales, and apparently neither do dead women." Atton said with a nod, "Let's get an autopsy team here..." he dialed his radio, "This is Operative Williams to Global Justice Command, come in." A moment paused, "No signal, we'll need to head topside to call in someone for an autopsy."

"Could... could we get out of this cesspit?" Wally asked as he crawled his way towards Will, "This place is _really_ no place for royalty, even if soon to be ex."

Will inhaled sharply again to block his desire to punch some sense into Wally as the annoying royal brat began to wear on him. Atton looked at Will and nodded, "Check the back of the base for anything, I'll drag his royal pain-ness to the surface and grab some documents. I think we should be able to reach each other until I get too far off."

"Yes sir," Will said, nodding. They split paths, Will taking a left to the final room while Atton and Wally went to the right. As Will entered the last room, he found a large rune circle traced on the ground, four glowing crystals that gave the entire room a dark purple hue to it. He frowned as he walked up to the only furniture inside: A console-like pedestal with a small crystal arrangement. He advanced slowly and with the shotgun aimed, wary of any further traps. As he reached it, an image sprang to life in the rune circle of a robed figure.

_"So,_" the figure said, _"You're one of the two who blasted through my base and ruined my plans."_

"I am Agent Will Du of Global Justice," he stated as he gave one of several standardized spiels to dish to villains making their last cry, "If you are considering a further attack upon its agents or those of the free world, I would advise that you give up those actions and reconsider your life while you still can."

The robed figure snorted, "_I would advise you run, if you value your life."_

Will looked down and noticed the crystals and the entire room was beginning to glow red. Red like that of nuclear fire. He looked a moment as it dawned on him just what was about to happen, and one of the crystals exploded.

He dashed down the hall, sprinting towards the exit and leaping over the downed opponents as he heard an explosion behind him, secondary explosions beginning to line the entire facility. _Son of a bitch, they had the whole place wired to blow, those suicidal fanatics!_ he thought in frenzy as he dashed by the corner. He could see the main room and the other two escaping ahead at the blown-open door as Atton pushed Wally out and turned, "Agent Du!" the specter shouted.

Will darted over the bodies, stumbling as he nearly tripped on a broken spear as an explosion riveted a large stone above and dropped it right on the hallway. As explosions blasted behind him and splattered the remains of the guards into atoms, Will leapt for it...

He landed on the top as another explosion sent stone shards at him, cutting his face. He slipped as rubble began to fall behind them and crushing what had survived as a strong grip pulled him up and out of another explosion. Nodding to Atton, the two jumped down and sprinted out of the wrecked doorway as Wally kept moving forward, screaming like a little girl as the two hurried away as rubble collapsed on what was left of the base.

XX

XX

**One Hour Later**

**GJ Rally Point Zulu-Six**

**Outskirts of Warsaw, Poland**

Will Du was sitting on the hillside as Global Justice agents were busy securing the tunnel entrance and Wally was in the hovercraft changing out of his feces covered clothing and into a set of Global Justice clothing. He shook his head, amazed at what he had seen. _And we have a new enemy, it seems. One that's willing to work with Gemini to keep causing problems..._

He glanced up as Atton walked towards him. The medics said that his shoulder guard caught most of the impact and that he would only feel some light pain from bending his shoulder too much. "Hey, Agent Du," he said as he sat down next to him holding a pair of cups, "Good job in there."

"Thank you, sir."

"So, what's your take on this mess?" Atton pulled a hip flask out and poured a drink, offering it to Will, "Here, borrowed some vodka from the local Polish agents."

Will shook his head, "No thank you, sir. I don't drink much beyond a brief glass during quiet hours in the recreational rooms or to be polite at a diplomatic function."

Atton shrugged and took the glass himself, downing the one ounce shot in one gulp.

"As for the mission," Will said as he considered, "I think all things considered it went well. We nullified a WEE base and engaged their allies and seemed to drive them away. Still, we did not learn anything about them other than they seem to have some sort of shield technology or, if they are to be believed, magic."

Atton nodded, "That'll be a problem alright. I asked if they got Ghost's body for autopsy. Far as they can tell, normal human, but there's some odd things with it. Weird passive energy signature, sotra like what we get on supers, but different."

"Magical genes or something?" Will offered, the only explanation that made sense to him.

"Maybe, but that's a bit too Sci-Fi for my liking." He paused, "Then again, what happened last month?"

Nodding slowly, they were quiet for a few minutes, resting as a change from the action an hour ago when Will said, "You were right, Lieutenant."

"About what?"

"About how I _am_ Global Justice's number one agent." he pulled some tufts of grass as he spoke, dropping them one by one, "I may not be as good as you are, but you said as much yourself: You're a completely different weight category than I am. I'm the best in my own weight and I can stand up in yours. You said it yourself, I'm as much of a hero as any of the big names because I'm making the stand despite not being in the same category." He gave a slanted smile as he mused on the possible ego behind his statement, "I don't think this'll change who I am, but at the very least it's helping perspective."

Atton nodded slowly as they looked out to the morning sun. "Well, I'll be joining you on the way back to Rodegan before I get back to my mission. It'd be a war crime to leave you to handle His Royal Pain alone." A noncommittal grunt was Will's answer as he saw Wally in an argument with an agent over the rations. Atton smirked towards Will and commented, "I'm definitely not voting for him."

"Sir, we're not even citizens in Rodegan; we don't _get_ to vote."

The operative sighed as Will realized it was humor he was trying to go for.

XX

XX

**End Chapter**

*** Wally... ugh, scrappy fuel much? Consider this him getting wailed on a bit for his snotty attitude. Personally I'd leave him to his fate, but GJ is supposed to be Lawful Good... sometimes playing good guys sucks, huh?**

*** I'm hoping that Atton isn't coming across as a Mar(t)y Sue. I mean, conceptually he's supposed to be GJ's (inferior) answer to heroes like Kim, but I sometimes feel like I cross the line with him. His character purpose was, as I said earlier, to be a sort-of stand in for Kim as I don't see KP giving Will Du advice on soldiering and being number one in GJ.**

*** But yeah, I think Will Du, despite not being up to the level that you'd expect, is still GJ's number one agent if only on the technicality that folks like Atton are operatives and Doctor Director is an officer. Hey, I love loopholes!**


	4. Chapter 4: Specter

_"Rodegan may be a small fish, and it is, but there is something else behind this operation. Besides the chance encounters and what Agent Will Du and Operative Williams recovered from the enemy base under Warsaw, this was a chance for a victory against Gemini. If Global Justice is to step up into the world in accordance with the GDIA, Global Justice needs to show it can handle matters. This small victory is another credit to the organization. Some battles are won by perspective rather than substance, unfortunately."_

- Doctor Director, commenting on the Global Justice effort in Rodegan when its lack of tactical value was commented on by GJ Brigadier General Gary "Pinpoint" Townes

XX

**Chapter 4: Specter**

**9:00 AM Local Time**

**June 10th, 2007**

**Rodegan Castle**

Will stood straight with his hands held behind his back as Wally and his father hugged tightly. "Wally!" the soon to be ex King said with tearful joy. "It is good to see you safe and sound."

"Daddy," Wally said back, "It's so good to be back to civilization. My hosts were oh so _rude_!" Will could not help but note that Wallace's eyes conveying a meaningful look towards him apologetically. He glanced to Atton, who was standing next to him and had both of his weapons on a new harness, though his shoulder guard was not replaced yet.

"Your Highness," Atton said as he stepped forward, "I have to return to my previous mission soon."

"Of course," Wallace said as he released the embrace from Wally and took on the professional visage of a monarch in business, "Thank you for your efforts, Lieutenant Williams. It... it means a lot to me that you did what you did for my son."

Atton nodded firmly, "Global Justice is always happy to stand against Gemini's little Worldwide Evil Empire. Regardless, I would advise Rodegan exercise extreme caution for a while until they are sure that whoever aided WEE's efforts don't attempt a comeback."

"I understand, Lieutenant." Wallace turned to Will, "How long will Global Justice's soldiers be remaining?"

"We intend to head out by sunset," Will explained, "We need to debrief via video conference with Doctor Director first, but otherwise it is likely we will leave. I presume the elections went on while we were gone?"

"No, actually." Wallace said, "Adam Campan asked that they not begin until Wally was returned, to be fair to both parties."

Atton glanced at Will and sighed with a shrug as Will answered: "Very well. It is likely that we will remain during the elections then, but I cannot guarantee such until I have debriefed with Doctor Director over the matter."

"Of course, please contact her so we can have arrangements made."

XXX

**WEE Headquarters**

**Somewhere under the Atlantic Ocean**

Gemini nodded as he discussed with the burly mercenary whose face looked like it had been flatten by a brick during childhood. "Welcome aboard, David 'Hellrasier' Findley. I think you'll find this contract to your liking, the pay is quite good."

"Yeah, yeah," the mercenary answered with a roll of his shoulders, his battle-scarred Kevlar armor of black color gleaming in the red light, "Just make sure we get paid once we've finished, alright?"

Gemini scowled at him as he petted Pepe, "Remember your place, Findley."

The mercenary simple shrugged, "Right, I'll see the other meat bags you've hired at the rendezvous then. _Sir_." He put a disrespectful bite into the acknowledgement and walked off.

Gemini brought up the tactical map of the soon to be battlefield. There were two areas he would have to focus, the palace itself where all military functions were housed, and the small town that made up the rest of Rodegan. The town was relatively simple, but housed almost all the population not involved with military affairs. The palace was the main military complex, including a small motor pool that included a recently acquired M60 _Patton_ bought from Austria, delivered the night before. This concerned Gemini as while the Findley's Fraggers carried explosives able to handle a tank, the arrival of one could be a problem. He had several mercenary ninjas as well who he would send after the Global Justice agents to keep them clear. This just left the forty mercenaries and ten agents he had hired to handle the fifty man strong forces of Rodegan. He smiled, _Baring the arrival of Kim Possible or intervention by any nearby countries, it will be easy to take Rodegan over. Still, first goal should be to wipe out the town's structures as to leave visible damage. While that is going on, I can send a team into the palace... yes, two of the mercenaries are supers. I will prepare a separate briefing for them and a small team that'll have the ninjas._

He began finalizing a briefing for the mercenaries going into the fray, to make it clear he would not accept failure.

"This is Gemini," he stated as he began recording, "You are all aware of what you will be up against: a militia like force of soldiers referring to themselves as archaic 'musketeers' and a few agents from the enemy. Your objective is straightforward: You will take out all military forces and destroy everything in your path. Scorched Earth. This attack is to cow Rodegan into abandoning its foolish plans and making them remember a certain iron rule. Do. _Not._ Fail me!"

XX

XX

**Rodegan Castle**

Will Du saluted as Doctor Director appeared on the screen. "Doctor Director."

She nodded, _"Agent Du, Lieutenant Williams. Wally has been returned to his home, but we have not had a formal debriefing other than your brief report. What was discovered under Warsaw?"_

"We're not sure, ma'am. They seem to be some analog to WEE, but use primitive weapons mixed with advanced shielding of some sorts." Atton said, "It seems that some of their elites are able to take our energy weapons, but their mainline seem to have far weaker shielding that a single shotgun blast is able to overwhelm. We left some documents recovered with Sunspot's men."

Will chimed in, "Given this single engagement, we cannot proper gauge their abilities. However, it is clear they have access to advanced stealth operatives and those who have capable shielding are capable of causing considerable damage before being taken down. They seem to favor hand-to-hand and melee combat. Again, this is only one engagement, but the texts Operative Williams recovered may yield something."

Doctor Director nodded slowly. "_Write a formal report on this, both of you. If we happen to run into them again, we can use it as an opportunity to learn more than what we've already gained. What have they identified themselves as?_"

Atton answered: "According to the second of their stealth operatives we defeated, she identified themselves as a 'Conclave' before committing suicide."

"_And Wally's statements on his capture?"_

Will inhaled, "He only speaks of the conditions they held him within, not anything that his captors said to him. We won't learn anything from him, ma'am."

Doctor Director sighed, "_A shame. Regardless, both of you have done well. Lieutenant Williams, make ready to head back to your prior mission."_

"Yes ma'am," Atton said. Doctor Director then turned to Will;

_"Agent Du, I believe you were informed but in the event you were not: Agent Blake's funeral was yesterday while you were in transit. I understand you wanted to be there."_

Will closed his eyes, "Yes ma'am, but I understand that I could not be present."

_"Once you have returned stateside I'll give you leave, Agent Du. Agent Astrid was also transferred stateside for treatment and recovery. Her condition is stable, but she has been hooked up to a lot of life support."_

Will nodded in relief, "Understood, ma'am. Do you have any other orders?"

_"Only that you remain until the elections have finished, Agent Du. From what Wallace told me, the return of Wally means they will begin in the afternoon. I am considering sending Kim Possible down there, just in case. She's on the horn and we can have her down there quickly."_

Will sighed internally. He knew he would never lose whatever reputation he had gained after being outpaced by Kim, but he knew the truth now. He may not of been able to become a one-man army like Kim was able to, but he could hold the line and his training would carry him through.

"Doctor Director, I understand that Will failed in the previous incident, but you said yourself that the blame fell on Agent Astrid's foul up and there was no negligence on his part." Atton said suddenly, "I think that Will Du will be able to finish the operation without support, though I would ask him if he agrees with this assessment." At that point, he glanced to Will.

He inhaled a moment, collecting himself before answering. "That is correct, Operative. I believe that we can complete the mission with the agents we still have present. Given that they were all we could spare in the first place, I would advise we not pull other agents from where they are needed in order to support this or bringing Possible here when she may be needed elsewhere. Wallace has mobilized a good portion of Rodegan's standing army to ensure security. Further, Corporal Thomson's hovercraft is repaired enough to provide us with air support."

Doctor Director nodded with a faint smile on her lips, _"Excellent, Agent Du. Good to have our number one agent back in action. I will leave you two to your orders. Doctor Director out."_

The transmission cut and Will closed his eyes, thinking again about the previous few days events. It showed him several things. No, he was not the best Global Justice had. On the other hand, when it came to its stalwart mainline, its agents, he was the best of them. Even if he never got the same level of credit as more visible 'heroes', he was still equal to them in heroics if not stature. Atton clasped him on the shoulder, "Good luck, Agent Du."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Williams."

XX

**Three Hours Later**

**12:23 PM Local Time**

Will frowned as he heard a loud thud. Then a second. Running to the window and pulling his new GJA-13 rifle from its harness, he swore as he saw fire and smoke coming from the town. He immediately hit the radio, "This is Agent Du to all GJ and Rodegan forces; _what is going on?_"

"_This is Captain Alenko, we have enemy forces moving in on the town. Confirmed mercenary forces lead by WEE agents. Musketeers, fire at will!"_ The sound of automatic fire followed as Will swore, sprinting down towards the motor pool as he shouted orders for the agents within the castle to rendezvous there as he heard tactical updates saying all enemy forces were moving into the town.

As he came out to the courtyard motor pool, he saw Atton with his GJA-19 in hand, "Agent Du, I intend to use my sniper rifle for some support to cover you." The new M60 Patton with Rodegan's battle standard freshly painted on rolled out behind him.

"Understood. What are King Wallace's orders?" Will asked.

"He's holding a group of men behind to protect the castle itself, but the rest of the soldiers are heading out to protect the civilians. We have a positive ID of Findley's Fraggers merc group as part of the attack."

_So we can expect plenty of grenades,_ Will thought as he pulled the Global Jjustice database file out of his memory. "Target the grenadiers if you can. They will be the ones with grenade launchers and will do the most damage," he said as the other GJ agents came out. Glancing to an unused pair of jeeps he nodded to his agents, "Alright men, get onto those jeeps, we will ride them down to the town and help out those people."

They jumped into the jeeps and Atton ended up in the one Will was in. They drove out, everyone preparing weapons and checking charge levels. As they went down, Will dialed an uplink to Global Justice's strategic coordination, "This is Agent Du to Global Justice Command. Come in."

_"Agent Du, this is Agent Talleyrand. What is your report?"_

"Rodegan is under attack by WEE forces and hired mercenaries. This is a full out engagement, repeat: Full out engagement. Can satellite imaging be provided?"

_"Copy that, Agent Du. Stand by... confirmed. Spy satellites indicate it is just a mercenary force."_

_Perfect,_ Will sarcastically thought, "Understood."

"Mercenaries eh? Those guys are of variable quality." Atton chimed in.

"They can still be dangerous, though, so watch it." Will retorted.

They drove past the M60 as they closed to the town, and Atton leapt out as he spotted a good sniper position. Talleyrand updated orders that Will would have done anyways. "Understood, Agent Talleyrand. Keep us informed of any enemy reinforcements. We are moving into the town now, over!" He ended the connection and turned to the other GJ agents, "Alright men, we need to get in there any help those Rodegan soldiers out. Our priority is to stop WEE forces from advancing, but if you have a chance to help the civilians escape, take it."

He received a chorus of affirmatives as they reached the edge of the town and skidded the jeeps to a halt. Leaping out of the jeep, Will hurried to a stone fence as he spotted a mercenary moving up. Taking cover with Henderson next to him, the two rose and fired three shots each towards the mercenary. The first four missed, but the second two hit the mercenary and caused him to drop his AK-47 and collapse. "Go, go, GO!" Will shouted as they moved up towards the town center.

Will took cover next to Private Vargas Mitchell as he came up by a small restaurant. The WEE mercenaries had already blasted grenades and other explosives to the side of town farthest from the palace. The mercenaries held the bridge that lead to the town. Two mercenaries of the Findley's Fraggers moved towards the fountain and took cover behind it, though one of them caught a sniper round to the chest as Will caught sight of Captain Alenko hurling a grenade into the cover used by a WEE agent with a shock staff. A Global Justice agent took a hit and Henderson shouted "_Medic!_"

Will's radio beeped and he crouched back into cover to answer, "Agent Du here; in combat!"

_"This is Talleyrand. Agent Du, all GJ forces are now cleared for lethal force if required. Repeat, you are now authorized to use lethal force._"

Will did not switch his GJA before he opened fire, the blue energy bolts shooting at a WEE agent who took another shot with his shock staff, catching a Rodegan soldier in the head as he tried to rise and open fire. The WEE agent took the rounds to her stomach and collapsed as Will ducked back into cover and glanced at his ammunition count. _Four shots left,_ he thought as he spotted another mercenary attempting to close the distance with a grenade launcher, cover fire from his fellow mercenaries making targeting him difficult. "Henderson, Syers," he said into his headset, "Head around the left flank and cause some damage. Corporal Thomson, air support is needed _now_."

_"Copy that, Agent Du. Fueled up and on the way."_

Will returned his attention to the incoming mercenaries. Those grenade launcher equipped soldiers would be a serious problem. He was about to rise and shoot one who had exposed himself as the mercenaries laying down covering fire with M-16's ducked to reload, but a sniper shot from Atton nailed him right between the eyes. Will quickly ducked down as several bullets shot over his head, another Rodegan soldier collapsing as their medics began to reach full stretch.

XX

Atton reloaded his sniper rifle after he slotted another mercenary, having blown a hole clean into her arm with the high power of the GJA-19's lethal energy rounds. _Odd that they take the same charge for non-lethal,_ he mused. He zoomed out of the scope to get an idea of the battle. Rodegan's M60 was almost in the fight, but he noticed something: Will had organized the GJ agents to squad tactics and were pushing towards the town square's fountain. The Rodegan soldiers were also doing a good job, but had taken several casualties and both sides were still equal in numbers.

He spotted a group of four mercenaries heading to the right flank and trained his scope's crosshairs onto the first mercenary carrying a grenade launcher. He took the shot as he lined the shot to center mass and caught the mercenary, taking him down and knocking him into his comrade. Quickly pumping the bolt action, he lined up the next mercenary as they scattered, getting the second one before the other two had figured out where the fire was coming from and took cover.

XX

Will sprinted across the road as the Rodegan soldiers laid down cover fire. The fight had reached a stalemate in the town square. He dived into cover next to the Rodegan captain, who was reloading his rifle. "Good to see you, Agent Du. Where's the air support?"

Will did quick calculations to identify the ETA. "On the way, a minute or two." Will said as he pulled the pin from a flash bang and hurled it towards the mercenaries, "Flash grenade!"

Ducking back into cover, Will heard the shouts of the mercenaries as they were peppered from above. "Nice timing," Alenko commented as the hovercraft was above and firing. "Squad Three, move up the right flank!"

Five Rodegan soldiers on the right flank broke off to go to the back of the buildings. Sniper rounds continued to whiz down from Atton's vantage point as the M60 rolled in and opened fire, blasting a WEE henchmen into dust with a direct hit, the explosion briefly blinding Will as a human hand landed next to him. _Gross,_ he briefly thought before he rose out of cover and opened fire, taking down another mercenary who was trying to advance under cover fire.

_"This is Talleyrand. I have detected a small squad breaking off for the palace."_

Will nodded as he glanced to Alenko, "Captain, there's a group going for the Palace."

Alenko nodded, "The hovercraft able to deal with them?"

Will asked and received a negative as they had managed to breach the sally port. "Negative... they've breached the flank sally port!"

"_Shit!_" Alenko swore, "We're way out of position, the civilians are going to be in the castle! Will, my men will handle the mess here! Get your ass over to the palace!"

Will nodded and pulled out, "Lieutenant Williams, I'm coming towards the palace. It has been breached."

_"Copy that Agent Du! I'll get onto the road now. Bring another agent or two."_

Will nodded as he spotted Agent Jones and ordered her to join him as they hurried back, Will hopping into the driver's seat of one of the jeeps they rode down. Driving away from the gunfight, several bullets ricocheted off the ground behind them as they left, loud thuds of the M60's main gun telling Will that the tide was turning.

XX

XX

David "Hellraiser" Findley sighed as he saw the tank, "You're fucking kidding me..." he said as he revved his personalized energy assault cannon 'borrowed' from a mad scientist who had not paid up and switched out the normal yield for a more high powered explosive type of blast. "Fraggers, frag that tank!"

"Got it boss!" shouted one of the grenadiers as the two moved closer, firing their grenade launchers at it from behind cover. The first few grenades bounced off the armor and did not damage it, but one of Findley's cannon shots landed on the tank's main cannon and blasted it, leaving the tank a heavy hunk of useless metal as its machine gun was missing. _Suckers,_ he thought as he fired another shot towards a pair of Rodegan soldiers, the two diving out of cover as the energy blast blew it apart, only to be shot up by the other Fraggers carrying M-16's.

He took stock of the situation; the M60 was rolling out of the way with its weapons useless, but it had provided enough distraction for the Rodegan soldiers to gain ground. The last of the WEE agents were down, making it a fight between his men and the puny Rodegan military. _Too close a battle,_ he decided. _If Gemini doesn't cough up I'm going to be taking it by force and then some..._

Then he spotted a GJ hovercraft heading towards them. "Alright, that's enough," he decided aloud, knowing that if Gemini did not brief them on either the hovercraft _or_ the tank than this was going to be more than it was worth, and his energy cannon was not rated for anti-aircraft duties. Besides, he knew where WEE was making payments. "Fraggers, we're pulling out!" he called in the Fragger's main method of transportation as they pulled out of the firefight. He made a mental note never to work for Gemini again.

XX

XX

**Rodegan Castle**

Will Du parked the jeep and leapt out with the other two agents as they dashed in. "Alright, where'd Wally and Campan go?" he asked as Jones switched her GJA-13 to stun mode.

"They mentioned something about a study," Atton said as they sprinted down the halls weapons ready, Atton's GJA-15 in shotgun mode and set to stun. "Talleyrand, get us a map!"

_"Copy that, uploading now."_

Will nodded as Atton's wrist display showed a map, "Lead on, sir!"

They followed Atton down the maze of halls as they moved deeper down into the castle, passing the dungeons briefly before coming up on a sealed door. Will frowned: it was not sealed in the sense that it was locked by a Rodegan soldier, but sealed by some unusual gel of purple color. "Lieutenant?"

"No problem," Atton said as he pulled a sonic mine out and planted it on the door. Moving back, the mine went off and the door grumbled, though the gel remained. "Gotta love Wade Load's handiwork," the Specter said with a smile as they moved up through the next set of halls.

As they closed in on the study, Will heard something and whirled around just in time to see a WEE ninja take Agent Jones down with a pressure point strike that caused her to collapse and hurling her into a wall. Atton whirled around and fired, his shotgun still set to stun mode as he blasted the ninja into the opposite wall. "Damn it," Atton commented as Will checked Jones; she was out cold but alive. "We better hurry."

Nodding, the two continued on and found the study. It was sealed tight, several WEE agents standing outside and waiting to charge in with two heavyset men clad in personalized and scavenged modern armor with several metal plates affixed over certain locations carrying shock staves more akin to Drakken's than Gemini's. Will was about to arm a flash bang grenade when the door suddenly dematerialized. _Anti-Matter charge!_ Will realized in horror as he recalled the assortment of villainous explosives Jack Hench somehow legally sold. He stepped out of cover and opened fire as the two heavies charged in followed by the WEE agents. The heavies somehow took the incoming bullets, Will feeling horror clutching him as he realized they were invulnerability supers of some sorts. He opened fire into the WEE agents, catching them unawares as a shotgun blast from Atton knocked one out cleanly as they moved in. Once in melee range thanks to Will's suppressive fire, he bonked another agent in the gut with the stock of his GJA-15 before uppercutting with it, knocking the agent to the ground with a broken jaw. Will moved up as a shock staff blast missed him by centimeters as he kept firing, hitting the agent who was responsible and bringing him down. The two hurried into the study.

Wally, Wallace, and Adam Campan were pinned down by the two WEE heavies, the few Rodegan soldiers around them all battered and unconscious. Wally was whimpering while Wallace and Adam were standing defiant. "Drop the shock staves and turn around slowly!" Atton shouted as he aimed his GJA-15 at them, Will doing the same with his GJA-13, "Only chance," he added.

The two heavies snorted as Will felt someone hit him in the back. Dropping his GJA because he was knocked forward, he whirled around to see that three ninjas were attacking. Atton was struggling with two while Will fought one carrying a butterfly knife. Grabbing the knife hand, Will struggled with the ninja, unable to hit his stun watch with his horrid angle.

Two large men suddenly charged into the room, the sound of metal hitting metal audible as the entire fight stopped, everybody looking at what just happened.

Two armored knights were now in the room, one carrying a sword with a red draconic symbol inscribed onto it while the other, smaller one was carrying a heavy mace. Their armor was visibly plate mail up until the groin and torso, at which point a red tunic worn over covered the rest of the armor. Both of them had their helmet visors up, and their shoulder guards were simple semicircles mounted on their shoulders. One of the supers looked at him in shock as he held his shock staff, "You're kidding me, right? I thought you guys wanted to _kill_ weak-link here!"

The two knights began to size up their opponents, two duels of one on one about to occur as the two knights said simultaneously, "_Rodegan shall not fall while it's knights draw breath!"_

"Oh shut it," said the other super, "We're bringing everyone to Gemini, contract and all that."

The two knights then began to recite something, trading off as the duels were about to begin, the two GJ agents and three ninjas still looking at the entire change stunned, a tear coming from Wallace's eyes as he recognized it.

_"To protect the weak from the tyranny of the strong..."_

_"... Rise, Knights of Rodegan! Rise, guardians of its people!"_

_"Arise, Knights, the innocent call for your aid!"_

_"Arise! Arise to stand until the last breath is drawn forth!"_

_"Rise, and stand against the forces of darkness!"_

Then together with resolute steel they delivered the last line together: _"With honor as our shield, valor as our armor, courage as our blades, chivalry as our map: We shall never surrender so long as there is hope!"_

There was a moment of silence as everyone realized what just happened, Wally even ceased his whimpering.

"Alright, now this is officially fucked up," Atton said with stunned disbelief, "James Bond meets Ninjas meets Marvel meets fricken' King Arthur... What's next in this chop suey, Cthulhu?"

Everyone stared at him for a moment before remembering that they were supposed to be fighting. Will kicked the ninja that was holding him down while Atton hurled one of the ninjas fighting him into the wall. The knights began to duel their opponents, using their blade and mace with brilliant skill as they dueled the heavies, gaining the upper hand quickly.

Rolling up over the ninja, Will grabbed the butterfly knife in mid air and hurled it into the wall to remove it from the fight. The ninja leapt back at him, tackling him to the floor again. This time, however, it was hand-to-hand as Will blocked the punches, feeling the bruises that were already forming on his forearms as he protected himself. Bringing a leg around, he kicked the ninja and knocked him forward. Will whirled around on the ground and brought himself to a standing position, shooting the ninja with his stun watch and knocking him out. He glanced up as he saw Atton boxing with the other ninja before getting the upper hand and hurling him into the other ninja with a judo throw. The two Global Justice agents turned to the knights.

The smaller knight's mace suddenly glowed as he brought it up, smashing against the super's metal breastplate and knocking him back, a brief explosion of color flashing from the impact of the charged mace. The sword wielding knight on the other hand got his sword under his opponents shock staff and disarmed him before clobbering the super with a strong hit to the head.

The dust settled, everyone realizing what just happened. Will's radio beeped; _"This is Talleyrand: All enemy forces have retreated."_

XX

XX

**1:27 PM Local Time**

**Thirty Minutes Later**

"As to be clear on the circumstances of this event," Will said as he heard the Knights of Rodegan's story again, "You wanted to kill Wallace the Third three years ago, but now you saved his life?"

"The monarchy ends with Wallace the Third," answered the smaller one with a nod, "That is correct."

"But you tried to kill him. You know this is really hard to believe right now." Atton added, eying them quizzically. Everyone's weapons were holstered to some degree as they stood in the throne room.

The larger knight, Reggie, answered. "Prophecy has a strange way of being twisted, it seems. The monarchy indeed ends, as Wallace the Third has chosen to move it away. We do not expect amnesty, but consider this our way of burying the sword."

Wallace frowned as he sat on the throne, "I understand the grudge that you bear the royal lineage, our first King was indeed a tyrant and deserved every punishment your ancestors intended for him. I fear, however, that to bury these crimes will be difficult indeed, though I too wish to see this conflict buried in the dustbin of history where it belongs. Our defenses are weak now, we cannot afford to be too bold in forgiving our enemies."

Atton stepped up, "Your Highness; I understand that you are to be in command of Rodegan's military forces as a general once the elections are over. It is, as I comprehend, your way of easing yourself into retirement while still proving guidance to your nation."

Wallace nodded slowly, "That is correct. What are you saying, Lieutenant?"

"I'm suggesting that you offer the knights a chance to return to Rodegan and help protect it while you rebuild. Their skill and equipment is enough that they would classify as supers within Global Justice. We can provide a way for them to be accountable, they can assist in protecting Rodegan as it forge's its new course, and you can bury the conflict."

The two knights looked at each other for a moment as Wallace pondered the thought. "Well, gentlemen, would commissions in the Rodegan military be acceptable? I cannot offer high rank, in fact, you would have to earn such yourself and the trust of the other soldiers, but I can offer you the chance if you wish."

Reggie stepped forward to answer; "I must apologize, King Wallace, but we cannot accept this offer. While you were always loathe to rule with your fist, our grudge against the monarchy is too great for us to lose it in a heartbeat. While we shall do our utmost to aid Rodegan in its hours of need, we cannot remain here or serve under its banner."

The soon-to-be-ex King nodded slowly, "Very well. I will ask you to leave our borders shortly for the sake of security, then. Please try to arrange any return visits to family or friends through official channels in the future, and I do hope that one day this grudge can be left in the ancient age it belonged to."

The two knights bowed, "May such a day come quickly," the smaller one said, and they took their leave.

XX

**Ten Minutes Later**

**Rodegan Castle Landing Zone**

Will looked towards Atton as he walked to the hovercraft he'd come in, "Agent Du. A word before we leave." Atton said.

"Yes sir?"

"I want you to remember what happened here. I don't know why, but I have a funny feeling those knights had more than an odd form of debt paying in mind when they helped. I feel it was a genuine interest in helping, but I feel like something more was behind them being here. It's just a hunch, but there are just too many holes."

Will nodded, "I will be sure to log that in my report. Where are you off to, if I'm permissible to learn such, sir?"

Atton smiled, "Hunting down stolen alien technology taken from the disabled walkers. You wouldn't believe the firestorm that topic is in politics these days. Some super named _Brimstone_ made off with some in Pompeii, probably going to wind up setting off Mount Vesuvius again."

Will could not help but curl his lips in amusement at the seeming absurdity, "I understand sir."

"Agent Du... Will. You reminded me of something, you know that? Just as you seem to have gotten your old fire back, you reminded me something. Sure, big time heroes in the old school sense tend to make and die for great things so that everyone else can live better. Thing is though, you reminded me that it's the little guy, the soldiers like you who step up to face down the odds that _keep_ things that way. You may not be the same scale of hero, Will Du, but you and all your comrades in arms are just as much of a hero as any Specter or any super. Without brave folks like you, anything we make would crumble to dust while we're off doing the next big thing. And we forget it all too often." Atton smiled and offered a hand to shake, "Until next time?"

"Next time. Sir." Will said as the two shook hands and the two parted ways. Will inhaled as he watched the hovercraft fly towards the Alps down to Italy, mulling over again what Atton said. _He's right. I may not be the best, but it's those who are willing to stand despite not being the big time heroes that makes someone Global Justice's number one._

XX

XX

XX

**2500 Common Era**

**The Archive**

Ejected from the memories, Dorothy Lipski put a hand on her head, shaking it as she blinked and understood the memories she had just relived. The Archivist smiled, "I believe you've learned a shred of what you wanted to know."

"Yeah. It's been a while since my Advanced Placement Earth History classes; what happened after?"

"Somehow, Wally carried the votes to win, a likely side effect of the unfortunate rumors that passed after his disappearance and suspicions of democracy from it. Will Du and his team were transferred back to Middleton to debrief before the elections finished, so they did not get to see it actually happen. Global Justice never built a firebase there, which left them in trouble a few months down the line with Global Justice occupied elsewhere."

She nodded, "Rodegan never grew up again, did it?"

"No, it did not. But it remained there, small and unnoticed, but there all the same. The little guy who could." He replaced the tomes on the pedestal, "Now, I believe that if you're ready, we can return to your main question, the original reason you came to this archive."

She nodded, "In a few minutes, I need lunch."

XX

XX

XX

XX

**End Story**

*** And so my entry to **_**AmericanGecko's **_**contest ends. When I wrote this, I wanted to focus on the little players in the KP 'verse yet still tie it into Deconstructive Legacy. Chapter Three was the primary tie-in with its primary opponents for our two Global Justice blue shirts.**

*** As for the Knights of Rodegan's odd switch of sides, I say only this: While they certainly learned looser interpretation of prophecies, the suckers still followed it too close.**

*** I think if I had to chose a theme for this one-shot, it'd be "**_**heroes come in all sizes**_**", size referring to scale. You got biggies like Superman, then you got the everyday 'red shirt' who the audience could care less about but is just as much of a hero as the main cast in general because they're taking on the same risks with less plot protection (not that they know...) and often less talent. Will Du seems, to me, to represent the latter within the KP 'verse as he's the only real GJ soldier we get to know. All the rest are batted aside like red (blue?) shirts.**

*** As for the mercenaries Gemini hired... well, the **_**Findley's Fraggers**_** appearance here was actually because I wanted to drop a sneak peak of guys I hoped to have get their butts handed to them by our favorite red-head cheerleader :P They escaped without incident and, pardon the reference, **_**got to da chopper**_** quick enough to evade Thomson's hovercraft.**

**XX**

**List of Notable Changes between original and this version:**

*** Minor changes to fit into the new events of my planned rewrite of **_**Deconstructive Legacy**_** and overall changes to my planned plot. DL is still being worked on, but will not likely be posted until I have fixed up everything that I have written out so far so it can be done in one go.**

*** One of the main changes is Power Busters Division (PBD) was not alluded to as a source of support for Global Justice and mentions of the GDIA (an act which made Global Justice's responsibilities more Global Defense Initiative in nature).**

*** Atton Williams now sports a GJA-09 'Falcon' Energy Pistol on his belt, though it is not used in the story or mentioned after Chapter 1.**

*** Grammar fixes and syntax changing, primarily removing contractions from narration.**

*** Other than this, no major changes.**


End file.
